Canon Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846)

Phillips's portrait of Canon Thomas Gisborne from around 1808 depicts the evangelical clergyman and abolitionist closely associated with the Clapham Sect—the group of wealthy Anglican evangelicals that included William Wilberforce and Henry Thornton who drove the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade. Gisborne's Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1797) and his role as a moral philosopher of evangelical Christianity gave him a significant position in early nineteenth-century religious culture. His portrait by Phillips connected the painter to the evangelical networks that were one of the most influential forces in early Victorian social and political life, and the image served both personal commemoration and the Clapham Sect's culture of recorded religious commitment.

Phillips captures Gisborne's clerical dignity and moral seriousness through conventional but effective portraiture. The dark clerical dress and neutral background focus attention on the features that convey the sitter's evangelical conviction. The handling is professional and appropriate to the institutional context.