Sir Francis Bourgeois

Bourgeois is shown wearing the Polish Order of Merit awarded to him by Stanislaw II Augustus in 1791. This is likely to have been painted c.1810, on the back of a work by Reynolds (DPG17A). Other versions of this painting by Beechey are in the National Portrait Gallery and Sir John Soane's Museum (114), although it is no longer clear which of three surviving autograph versions was Beechey's original. It is also not certain which versions were exhibited at the Royal Academy (221 The Late Sir. F. Bourgeois RA) in 1813 and the Society of British Artists in 1830 (101). For copies, see Bourgeois DPG466.