Oil painting Roger Gale

Object number

LDSAL1307

Artist/Designer/Maker

Vanderbank, John - Artist

Production date

1722

Material

oil paint
canvas (paint canvas)

Dimensions

height: 890mm
width: 685mm

Location

Burlington House -

Content description

The half-length painting shows Roger Gale placed to the left, but his head is turned towards the spectator, and his right hand makes a gesture of demonstration. He is dressed in a brown coat with white linen and wears a full grey wig. The background is also a discreet brown.

Oil on canvas portrait of Roger Gale FSA (1672-1744) in early eighteenth century frame.

Roger Gale (1672−1744) was the eldest son of the Revd Thomas Gale, Dean of York. He inherited the family estate at Scruton, Yorkshire, in 1702 and served as MP for Northallerton in 1705−13, being appointed Commissioner of Stamp Duties in 1714, then of Excise until 1735. Afterwards Gale retired from public life and devoted himself to running his estate and to his antiquarian pursuits. He travelled the country with his brother-in-law, William Stukeley, and was a member of the Society of Antiquaries from 1717, being appointed the Society’s first Vice-President in 1724. For many years Treasurer of the Royal Society, he was also an active member of the Gentlemen’s Society of Spalding. He bequeathed his fine collection of coins to the University of Cambridge and conducted a voluminous correspondence on antiquarian matters, although his publications were few.