May Artwork of the Month: John Wilkes MP by Robert Edge Pine
10 May 2018
250 years ago, on 10 May 1768, protestors calling for the release from prison of Radical MP John Wilkes (1725-97) were fired upon by troops in south London. At least six demonstrators were killed in what came to be known as the Massacre of St George's Fields.
Wilkes had been arrested after returning from France, where he had fled in 1763 to escape prosecution for libel against the King. This portrait by Robert Edge Pine (1730-88), a politically radical artist, was painted during Wilkes' self-exile.
It depicts Wilkes at a desk on which lie letters and Algernon Sidney's republican treatise, 'Discourses Concerning Government' (1698). In the lower left corner is a cameo of the parliamentarian, John Hampden (1595-1643), above which rests a medieval scroll representing Magna Carta.
The portrait was reproduced as a print that played an important role in maintaining Wilkes' public profile as a Radical and anti-establishment figure.
Image: 'John Wilkes MP' by Robert Edge Pine, oil on canvas, 1768 (Parliamentary Art Collection, WOA 2935)