- Museum number
- Painting.16
- Description
-
Portrait of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (1689-1741), T.Q.L., standing, body turned half-r., eyes looking full, wearing Peer's Robes and holding a medal. Oil painting on canvas
- Production date
- 1728 (or after)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 150 centimetres
-
Width: 122 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Edward Harley, son of Robert, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer married well to the only daughter and heir of the 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, who brought with ther a fortune of half a million pounds. An extravagant man, he collected on a grand scale so that at his death he was estimated to own 7639 manuscript volumes, 14,236 original rolls, charters, deeds and other legal documents, 330,000 printed pamphlets, 41,000 prints, over 17,000 books, plus antiquities, coins, medals and pictures. His father Robert, the 1st Earl had, with the assistance of Humfrey Wanley, built up a collection of some 6,000 volumes of manuscripts, 14,500 charters and rolls and also an extensive library of printed books. Edward made considerable and expensive additions to the collection. By the time of the foundation of the British Museum in 1753 the books had already been sold after Edward's death but the collection of manuscripts was acquired by Parliament for the BM for £10,000 from the money raised by the British Museum lottery.
He bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-85), Duchess of Portland. The manuscripts were sold to the nation by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum, the books having previously been auctioned.
Since he is shown wearing his peer’s robes the portrait must have been produced after Edward inherited the title in 1728.
The painting, in the 2nd compartment of the Eastern Zoological Gallery, was described in 1842 and 1879 as 'Edward Earl of Oxford by Dahl. Presented, in 1768, by his daughter, the Duchess Dowager of Portland'.
- Exhibition history
-
Montagu House, Upper Floor, Room V (10 Feb 1810)
Eastern Zoological Gallery (1842, 1879)
Old Board Room.
Department of Manuscripts Students Room.
- Condition
- Cleaned and frame gilt by Buttery, 1897.
Examined 2.iv.63. Same condition as Robert Harley.
- Acquisition date
- 1768
- Acquisition notes
- Minutes of the Trustees' Standing Committee 15 April 1768 c. 1158 'The Duchess Dowager of Portland having presented two Portraits of Robert and Edward Earls of Oxford...' No correspondence relating to the gift appears to have been retained.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Painting.16