John Thomas (1696–1781)

This portrait at All Souls College, Oxford, depicts John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln and later of Salisbury, who died in 1781. Hayter’s version, painted around 1832, was likely a copy after an earlier portrait, produced for the College’s collection of distinguished fellows and associates. All Souls maintains one of Oxford’s most significant collections of historic portraits. George Hayter was the preeminent British history and portrait painter of the early Victorian era, appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in 1841.

The formal ecclesiastical pose and conventional composition suggest Hayter was working from an existing prototype rather than from life. His technique remains accomplished, with smooth blending of the flesh tones.