Reverendus Admodum Carolus Lyttelton Nuper Episcopus Carliolensis et Societas Antiquariorum Præfes. Honoris & Gratitudinis Ergo Voluit Soc. Ant. Lond. 1770.

James Watson after Francis Cotes

Reverendus Admodum Carolus Lyttelton Nuper Episcopus Carliolensis et Societas Antiquariorum Præfes. Honoris & Gratitudinis Ergo Voluit Soc. Ant. Lond. 1770.

London, J. Watson 1770

Mezzotint

390x280mm

£120

A portrait of Charles Lyttelton (1714-68), barrister, Bishop of Carlisle and President of the Society of Antiquaries 1765. He is seated three quarter length, in a carved armchair, wearing his episcopal robes with huge voluminous lawn sleeves, and with an open book on his lap. In the background is a draped, tasselled curtain. In 1738 Lyttelton entered the Middle Temple as a barrister, but in 1742 he abandoned the law and was ordained. Known as a polymath, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1743, Bishop of Exeter, then Bishop of Carlisle and President of the Society of Antiquaries in 1765