Sir Thomas Bell

William Dickinson after Maria, Lady Bell

Sir Thomas Bell

London, R Wilkinson,  Aug 20^th 1816

Mezzotint

525 x 350 mm

£150

A three quarter length porait of Sir Thomas Bell, Sheriff of the City of London. He came of age amid the bustling commercial life of Georgian London and established himself as a leather merchant, operating tannery works and warehouses that supplied both the domestic market and the Navy’s growing demand for harnesses and boots. His success in business reflected the expanding role of trade guilds and merchant capital in the late 18th-century city economy.

In 1808, at the age of 57, he married the artist Maria Hamilton, later known as Lady Maria Bell. Their union brought together his mercantile prominence with Hamilton’s involvement in London’s artistic circles. This portrait was painted by his wife, Lady Bell