Henry Hare Townshend

This portrait shows Henry Hare Townsend (1765?-1827). He was the father of the poet and collector Chauncey Hare Townshend who bequeathed a large collection of watercolours and British and continental oil paintings to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1868. The bequest consists mostly of landscapes, this portrait is one of the few exceptions.

Chauncey Hare changed the spelling of his surname in 1828, adding the 'h'. This painting has often been titled as Henry Hare Townshend, although the father was never known by that spelling.