Stephen Slaughter

Catalogue entry

T00674 Sir George Lee 1753

Oil on canvas 762×635 (30×25)
Inscribed ‘The Right Hon^ble Sir George Lee’, t.l. and ‘Stepⁿ. Slaughter Pinx.^t 1753’ t.r., on painted oval
Presented by Leggatt Bros through the National Art-Collections Fund 1964
PROVENANCE ...; Lee family, Hartwell House, Aylesbury, Bucks.; by descent to Mrs Benedict Eyre, sold Sotheby's 26 April 1938(82) bt the Hon Mrs Nellie Ionides, sold by her executors Sotheby's 27 May 1964 (15) bt Leggatt
LITERATURE DNB 1908, XI (for Sir George Lee)

Sir George Lee (1700–58), eminent lawyer and politician, was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Lee, 2nd Bart, and Alice Hopkins. He became a Member of Parliament in 1733, and represented various West Country seats until his death in December 1758. He was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty in 1742, and was knighted in 1752, becoming a Privy Councillor. At the time of this portrait he held the offices of dean of Arches and judge of the Prerogative Court at Canterbury, and was also treasurer to the Dowager Princess of Wales 1751–7.

He was probably the uncle of William Lee of Totteridge Park (see Vanderbank T03539).

Published in:
Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988

Read more