Fine portrayal of the mature Banks, after the last of his portraits by Thomas Phillips. This is a rare and desirable proof impression of the mezzotint, printed before the lettering had been added at the foot of the portrait.

Fine portrayal of the mature Banks, after the last of his portraits by Thomas Phillips. This is a rare and desirable proof impression of the mezzotint, printed before the lettering had been added at the foot of the portrait.

At the time of painting Banks's portrait, Thomas Phillips (1770-1845) was one of the leading portraitists of his day, and a particular favourite of men of genius and talent. His famous sitters included Michael Faraday, William Blake, and Lord Byron resplendent in his Albanian Dress. He had been elected member of the Royal Academy in 1808 and held the office of professor of painting to the Academy 1824-1832.

Beginning in 1808, Phillips had made several large portraits of Banks to the order of different clients, the first remaining with the family until it was purchased by Sir William Dixson (now SLNSW) and another being taken for the Royal Society. Much to Banks's delight, the portraitist was adept at presenting him as the great statesman of British science, wearing his Order of the Bath decorations, sitting amid the ceremonial trappings of the Royal Society. Banks had been elected President of the Royal Society in 1778, and held the distinguished and highly influential position until his death in 1820. He remains the longest serving President in the history of the Royal Society.

Following his voyage with Cook on the Endeavour (1768-1771), Banks became the lynch-pin of Pacific exploration and the settlement of Australia. For the first three decades of settlement Banks —"the Father of Australia"—was the accepted authority on the new colony and involved himself in all aspects of its development.

The Phillips portrait was so popular that others of Banks's friends commissioned different versions, the last of which was this one, ordered by the Horticultural Society shortly after Banks's death in 1820. Although the face is copied in essentials from the earlier works, Phillips no longer felt the need to make his sitter so formal and forbidding, softening his eyes, while also replacing the trappings of his Presidency with subjects much dearer to the old botanist, a botanical plate by William Hooker on his desk and a new paperback book in his hand. Placed near his hand are some spectacles, the only known representation of the glasses he needed in old age.

This mezzotint was engraved by Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835) and Samuel Cousins (1801-1887) from the original picture in the possession of the Horticultural Society. The proof is "before letters": when the title block was eventually added for the final version, it read thus: 'The Rt. Honble. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., G.C.B., president of the Royal Society of London, Honorary member of the Horticultural Society of London &c… / painted by T. Phillips; engraved by S.W. Reynolds and S. Cousins. Pubd. by S.W. Reynolds, Augt. 1822'.