Goed, H.S. (details unknown), after Owen, William (1769-1825; English)
William Pitt
Mezzotint
Acquired by 1894
Present location unknown
William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) became Britain’s youngest Prime Minister in 1783, at the age of only 24, remaining in power during the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. Another impression of the print catalogued in NGV 1894 and 1905 is held at 10 Downing Street, London (reproduced below).
Owen, who apparently painted Pitt’s portrait in 1797, was appointed portraitist to the Prince of Wales (later George IV) in 1810.
The pre-Felton Melbourne collection also included a plaster bust of Pitt.
[comparative photo: Downing Street impression]
Refs.
NGV 1894, p.108 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.29); NGV 1905, p.120 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.16)
For a reproduction of the Downing Street impression, see http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?obj=22521; a very similar print, also after Owen, but ascribed to the engraver Charles Brome (c.1774-1801), is held in the National Portrait Gallery in London (published 1799): see http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw79228/William-Pitt?LinkID=mp07388&role=art&rNo=11
For Owen, see Bénézit 10, p.742; AKL 94 (2017), p.65; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Owen_%28painter%29; his portrait of Rachel, Lady Beaumont (1808) was purchased for the NGV through the Felton Bequest in 1955: see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/4234/. Neither Bénézit nor AKL lists an artist named Goed
For Pitt, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_the_Younger (a detailed and well-referenced article). For the plaster cast of Pitt formerly in Melbourne, see Casts – II. Busts & heads (II.103)