| Portrait of David Hume | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Allan Ramsay |
| Year | 1766 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait painting |
| Dimensions | 76.2 cm × 63.5 cm (30.0 in × 25.0 in) |
| Location | |
Portrait of David Hume is a 1766 portrait painting by the British artist Allan Ramsay. It depicts the historian and philosopher David Hume, a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.[1] [2] The two men had a long connection as founders of The Select Society and Hume had consulted Ramsay on the first volume of his The History of England.[3] The Scottish-born Ramsay was a leading portraitist of the Georgian era. He enjoyed notable patronage from George III and painted a number of portraits of the Royal Family, and had previously painted Hume in 1754.[3]
In 1765 Hume had been serving as the chargé d'affaires at the British Embassy in Paris. He returned to London the following year where he was accompanied by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. They both sat to Ramsay for portraits intended as a companion pieces. A mezzotint based on the picture of Hume, produced by Ramsay's former pupil David Martin, was displayed at the Exhibition of 1767 held by the Society of Artists in London.[3] Today the painting is in the collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.[4]
References
- O'Donnell p. 70
- Smart p. 143
- Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution 1760-1830. Harry N. Abrams, 2007. p.366
- "David Hume, 1711 - 1776. Historian and philosopher by Allan Ramsay | National Galleries of Scotland". Nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved Jun 11, 2026.
Bibliography
- O'Donnell, C. Oliver. Portraits of Empiricism: Art Histories from an Intellectual Tradition. Penn State University Press, 2006.
- Smart, Alastair. Allan Ramsay, 1713-1784. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1992.