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Primary sourcePainting1774

Edmund Burke, 1729-1797. Statesman, orator and author

Joshua Reynolds · 1774

A 1774 portrait of Edmund Burke painted by his friend Joshua Reynolds, the best-known likeness of Burke made during his lifetime.

A life portrait of Burke painted by his friend Reynolds, showing him as a leading statesman.

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Oil portrait of a man with powdered grey hair in a loose queue, wearing a red coat with dark collar and a cream lace cravat, turned three-quarters to the left against a dark background.
Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, 1729-1797. Statesman, orator and author, 1774. National Galleries Scotland.

About this source

What it is

This oil portrait of Edmund Burke was painted in 1774 by Sir Joshua Reynolds, a close friend of Burke's. It is held by National Galleries Scotland and shows Burke at the height of his career as a Member of Parliament.

Why it matters

As the best-known life portrait of Burke, it gives us a direct visual record of how he appeared to contemporaries, created by one of the leading portrait painters of the era. The friendship between Burke and Reynolds also reflects the close social world of politicians, writers and artists in eighteenth-century London.

Look closer

  • What impression of Burke's character does the painting try to create through his pose and expression?
  • Why might Reynolds, as a friend, have chosen to paint Burke in this particular way?
  • What does a formal portrait like this leave out about a person's private life or struggles?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Edmund Burke on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', set in serif capitals. Text reads: on the revolution in France, and on the proceedings in certain societies in London relative to that event, in a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Paris, by the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, London: printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, MDCCXC. Yellowed paper with a faint stamp mark in the middle.Book

Primary source

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke · November 1790

Front cover of a brown bound volume with a cream paper label typed 'Burke' and 'Two Speeches at Bristol'. Top left has library call number DA 507 1775 B918 and a blue California library sticker on the left edge with a barcode.Speech

Primary source

Speech to the Electors of Bristol

Edmund Burke · 3 November 1774

Title page of a book: "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful", with an ornate knot-work emblem below, and the imprint 'London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-mall. MDCCLVII'.Book

Primary source

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

Edmund Burke · 1757

Book

Primary source

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents

Edmund Burke · 23 April 1770

Title page of Rights of Man, reading 'Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution, by Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress in the American War, and Author of the Work Intitled Common Sense. London: Printed for J. S. Jordan, No. 166, Fleet-Street. MDCCXCI.' Handwritten ink marks appear in the upper right corner.Book

Primary source

Rights of Man

Thomas Paine · 1791-1792

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