Genius Fan

Portrait Summary

Subject: Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, 1674 (no date) – 2 July, 1743

• Wilmington is Eighteenth century Britain’s second Prime Minister (6 February, 1742 – 2 July, 1743. Spare a thought for anyone who dies in office.) He didn’t make a good dent in office, not because he wasn’t capable, but because he was overshadowed by the two 600lbs gorillas-of-the-time: his predecessor, the mighty Sir Robert Walpole and political dark arts master John Carteret. It’s acknowledged he ‘knocked his pan in’ that he exhausted himself, which finally led to his death, just a year and a half into office. Read more about him, in his PMs on the Pan post. Now, take a gander at his wig. It’s not just large…it’s massive. I’ve sketched a fair few men in wigs and tend to find the biggest wigs were worn early in the century. See the Kit-cat Club below – an outsize wig appears to have been the membership criteria.
• Portrait: This sketch is based on an impressive painting by German-born artist Sir Godfrey Kneller. He’s the man behind a hugely important, impressive and well-known set of 43 portraits called the Kit-cat Club Portraits, painted between 1697 and 1721. This set of movers and shakers of the early Eighteenth century includes other Prime Ministers (Walpole and Devonshire), writers (Addison, Steele and Congreve) and many other political and aristocratic figures of the time. Wilmington’s painting dates from 1710, when he was aged mid-30s. He didn’t take the top PM role until he was aged 67, when his appearance would have been quite different.
• See Kneller’s original painting at the UK’s National Portrait Gallery website.