How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

A lawyer, philosopher, essayist and scientist, Bacon was one of the great intellectual figures of Jacobean England. He was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1618, but was impeached for bribery three years later and confessed to 'corruption' and 'neglect', ending his political career. He spent the rest of his life in retirement, to devote himself to scientific research, which has led him to be regarded as the father of experimental science in this country. He published Essays (1597), the Advancement of Learning (1605), the Novum Organum (1620) and many other works.
This portrait is a later version of a contemporary painting depicting Bacon in his Lord Chancellor's robes.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban

Date

1731

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127.6 x W 102.6 cm

Accession number

1904

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Mrs A. H. S. Wodehouse, 1921

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

View venue

Artist or maker

John Vanderbank

1694–1739

View profile

Edmund Gibson (1669–1748) Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Don Quixote and the Damsel on a Bier English Heritage, Marble Hill House
Isaac Newton (1642–1727), Fellow, Natural Philosopher and Mathematician Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Don Quixote Washing His Beard English Heritage, Marble Hill House
Robert Smith (c.1689–1768), Master (1742–1768), Mathematician and Benefactor, Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy (1716–1760) Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Elizabeth Compton (1694–1741), Countess of Northampton English Heritage, Marble Hill House
Isaac Newton (1642–1725), Fellow, Natural Philosopher and Mathematician Trinity College, University of Cambridge
109 more