The Reverend Utrick Fetherstonhaugh (1717/18-1788) as Apollo

The Reverend Utrick Fetherstonhaugh (1717/18–1788) is depicted as Apollo, sun god and patron of the arts, in a 1751 portrait at the National Trust property of Uppark. The Fetherstonhaugh family were the owners of Uppark in Sussex, and this portrait is part of a remarkable group of Batoni works painted for the family in Rome in 1751. A clergyman depicted as Apollo is an unusual conceit — more typically associated with poets or musicians — but the choice may reflect the Reverend's particular intellectual or musical interests. The National Trust's possession of this work in its original house context makes it a singular example of a Grand Tour portrait retained in its intended domestic setting for over 270 years.

Oil on canvas combining clerical identity with mythological grandeur. Apollo's attributes — the lyre, laurel wreath, radiant light — would be integrated with the sitter's identifiable features. Batoni's Apollo would draw on classical sculpture types, particularly the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican, while maintaining the personal likeness required of commissioned portraiture.