Thomas Powys (1747–1809), Dean of Canterbury (1797–1809)

Thomas Powys, Dean of Canterbury from 1800 by John Hoppner depicts the clergyman who served as dean from 1797 until his death in 1809. Cathedral deanery portraits documented the succession of senior clergy in England's great ecclesiastical institutions. Hoppner's oil handling favored warm flesh tones over silvery grey half-shadows, producing an immediate vivacity that reflected his admiration for Reynolds and Gainsborough. Neoclassicism (c.1760-1830) revived the austere virtues of ancient Greece and Rome in reaction to Rococo frivolity.

The clerical portrait renders the dean with the quiet authority appropriate to his office, executed in Hoppner's characteristic broad, atmospheric manner.