ABSTRACT
Comparatively few portraits of Wesley were painted during the first four decades of his public evangelistic ministry (from 1739), a period during which British art, and particularly portraiture, emerged as a major cultural force. This included the inception of public art exhibitions and the foundation of the Royal Academy: the active careers of the two leading artists of the time, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88), were contemporary with Wesley’s ministry. Portraits of him which are known, by J. M. Williams, Robert Hunter, Nathaniel Hone and John Russell, are considered in order.
