Portrait of William Legge, Second Earl of Dartmouth

William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731–1801), was an important English statesman known for his evangelical religious convictions and his role as American Secretary during the early years of the dispute with the American colonies. Batoni painted him in Rome in 1756 at the age of twenty-five, before the political career that would mark his name in American history. The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire holds this portrait — an institution that bears the Earl's family name, as the college was named after the Dartmouth connection in the 1769 royal charter. The coincidence of this portrait's home institution and the sitter's title makes it an unusually fitting provenance. The 2nd Earl's evangelical piety was a defining trait, and his early portrait shows the young aristocrat before religious conviction fully shaped his public identity.

Oil paint on canvas from Batoni's established mid-1750s Grand Tour format. The 2nd Earl would have received a three-quarter or full-length treatment befitting his rank. Batoni's palette at this date shows the warm amber precision that characterized his finest decade of portrait production. Classical elements in the background are the expected Roman souvenir context.