Portraits in Oxford *

OP9
William Bromley

Artist: by Michael Dahl

Date: c.1712

Medium: oil on canvas

Measurements: height 1270 mm. (50 in.) width 1016 mm. (40 in.)

Inscriptions:
in cartouche on bottom of frame: 'Giulielmus Bromley Ar. de Ba/ ginton in Com: War: Decies ob hac Aca/ demia delegatus ad Parliamentum in/ quo regnante Anna, per Triennium Ora/ tor; postea usque ad Excesum optimae/ Reginae Principalis Secretarius/ Ob: 13: Feb 1731'; on scroll: under magnification only the word 'of' is legible

Acquisition: bequest by William Bromley, 1732

Location: Examination Schools

Description:
Three-quarter length, standing to right; long fair wig; white lace cravat and ruffles; heavy black brocaded silk robe with gold lace trimming on facings and sleeves as Speaker of the House of Commons; his right hand holds a scroll, his left rests on the arm of the green and gold Speaker's chair which occupies the greater part of the background.

Bequeathed to the University by the sitter in 1732: 'Vir Ornatissimus & Integerrimus Gul: Bromley de Baginton in Com Warwicensi Armig. ab Academia hâc ad suprema Regni Comitia per triginta Annos delgatus Suorum, quos vivus constantissime defenderat, is ipsa morte memor & suam & J. Radlivi M.D. Effigiem legavit.' (Registrum Benefactorum, for the year 1732, Library Records b.903, Bodleian Library, II, p.149)

Bromley was Burgess (or Member of Parliament) for Oxford University from 1702-1732. The portrait commemorates his appointment as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1710. In his 'Catalog of Pictures in the picture Gallery adjoyning to the Bodleian Library' included in a commonplace book compiled between 1741 and 1752 Vertue noted 'William Bromley Esqr. of GKneller' (the letters G and K elided as a monogram). (G. Vertue, Note Books, V, , 26, 1938, p.16) In the list of portraits he added to his edition of Anthony Wood's History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, John Gutch stated that the portrait was 'Painted by Dahl 1712' (2 vols, 1792-1796, II, p.967). A mezzotint engraving after the portrait by John Smith, inscribed 'M. Dahll pinx: 1712', confirms the attribution to Dahl.

The portrait was transferred to the Examination Schools by Act of Convocation: ‘That the Curators of the Bodleian Library be authorized to transfer, and the Curators of the Schools to receive, the portraits of Sir William Dolben, Lord Grenville, Speaker Bromley, and Peregrine Palmer now hanging in the Picture Gallery and elsewhere in the Bodleian Library’. (Oxford University Gazette, 8 June 1910, pp.764-765)

A replica and variant version are in a private collection, Cheshire; another, inscribed in large letters at top left: 'The Right Honble. Wm. Bromley', was in the collection of Appleby Bros Ltd in 1963. A copy by Thomas Phillips is in the Speaker's House, Palace of Westminster: 'copy of Mr Speaker Bromley for the Speaker 3/4 [length]'. (T. Phillips, entry under 'Misc subjects', dated 19 Jan 1805, ms 'Copy of the catalogue of the works of Thomas Phillips', transcribed by J.D. Milner, 1899, MS96, National Portrait Gallery Archive, London).

Literature:
A. Wood, History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford ed. by J. Gutch, 2 vols (1792-1796), II, p.967; J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 4 vols (1884), 3, pp.1142-1143, no.24; R. Lane Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the possession of the University, Colleges, City, and County of Oxford, 3 vols (1912, 1925), I, pp.140, no.342; W. Nisser, Michael Dahl and the contemporary Swedish school of painting in England (Uppsala, 1927), p.8, no.24; G. Vertue, 'Note-books V', The Walpole Society XXVI (1938), p.16; R.J.B. Walker, A Catalogue of paintings, drawings, sculpture and engravings in the Palace of Westminster 2 vols (1959), 1, no.31