John Wesley was painted a number of times both in and after his lifetime, both in portraits and in 'scene paintings'. Copies have been made of many pictures, and prints proliferate since Wesley became a popular subject for engravings. This is therefore a complex area since there are hundred of variant images in circulation. Those listed are among the better known.

From life:

• Wesley as a gownboy at Charterhouse. At John Street Chapel, New York, since 1930. Artist unknown. Identity of sitter disputed.

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  1742: by J.M. Williams. At Wesley College, Bristol. Copies at Lincoln College, Oxford and the Wesley Centre, Oxford (the 'Mission House' copy). The earliest authenticated portrait. A variant by J. Harley (c.1745) at Epworth Old Rectory (formerly at Methodist Publishing House, London). Wesley considered Williams more gifted than Joshua Reynolds (letter to Henry Brooke, 15 October 1771).

• c.1765: By Robert Hunter. At Wesley's Chapel, London. Copies at The Leys School, Cambridge and World Methodist Museum, Lake Junaluska.

Sitting recorded in Wesley's Journal, 31 July 1765. Hunter had a practice in Dublin. Cf. the 'Ranmoor College portrait', now in the University of Manchester Library.

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  c.1766: By Nathaniel Hone. At the National Portrait Gallery, London. Other versions at Methodist Publishing House, Peterborough, Methodist Archive and History Centre, Drew University (image reversed) and World Methodist Museum, Lake Junaluska.

• c.1772: By John Russell, RA. At Kingswood School. Copy at Wesley's Chapel, London (from the Leysian Mission)

Probable sitting recorded in Wesley's Journal, 30 December 1772.

• 1783: By Thomas Olave, Vicar of Mucking, Essex. At Wesley's Chapel, London (from Richmond College).

• c.1784: By Thomas Horsley. Provenance of original now uncertain, but cf. Wesley's Diary for 5 June 1784. Copies at Wesley's Chapel, London; Sunderland Art Gallery; Brunswick, Newcastleupon Tyne; World Methodist Museum, Lake Junaluska.

• 1788: By William Hamilton. At the National Portrait Gallery, London.

See Wesley's Journal for 22 December 1787.

• Picture:e02956c.jpg|thumb|right]]1789: By.George Romney. At the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Copies at Christ Church, Oxford; Lincoln College, Oxford; National Portrait Gallery, London; Wesley's Chapel and House, London; the 'New Room', Bristol; Westminster Institute of Education, Oxford; World Methodist Museum, Lake Junaluska.

Commissioned by Mrs. Tighe, of Rosanna, Co. Wicklow. See Wesley's Journal and Diary for 5 January 1789 etc.

• 1791: By Richard Westall: 'The Death of Revd. John Wesley, 2 March 1791'. Sepia drawing with Colnaghi, London, 1952.

May have been used by Claxton for his 'Holy Triumph' (c.1844); see below.

Posthumous portraits:

These include those by John Jackson RA (c.1826), R.J. Westley (after Hamilton, 1927) and Frank O. Salisbury.

Scene paintings:

Pictures of scenes from Wesley's life include:

H Perlee Parker: 'A Brand plucked from the Burning' (1840) (Methodist Church House, London)

Marshall Claxton: 'Holy Triumph' (c.1844, Museum of Methodism, London); 'The Holy Club' (c.1850, Salford Art Gallery); John Wesley in the Wednesbury Riots' (1865, location now unknown) and others

'Wesley preaching from his father's tomb' (several artists)

W O Geller: 'John Wesley preaching at Gwennap Pit' (1845, location now unknown)

William Hatherell: 'John Wesley preaching at a market cross' (1906, Museum of Methodism, London. Issued as a print by the Bovril Company)

Entry written by: PSF
Category: Subject
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