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Chetham's Library: Reading Room paintings

Portrait of Humphrey Chetham, circa 1650

English School. Oil on panel.
This is the only contemporary portrait of Humphrey Chetham (1580-1653), successful Lancashire textile merchant and founder of Chetham's Hospital and Library.

Silence Wagstaff (1714-1753) as a child, with her brother.

Follower of Krusemans. Oil on canvas.
Silence Wagstaff married Robert Thyer, Chetham's Librarian, in 1741.

Portrait of Robert Thyer (1709-1781)

Follower of George Romney. Oil on canvas.
Robert Thyer was Librarian at Chetham's 1732 - 1763.

Portrait of James Crossley (1800-1883)

John Hanson Walker. Oil on canvas.
James Crossley was a solicitor, antiquarian, bookseller, and honorary Librarian at Chetham's from 1875 to 1883. He was the founder of the Chetham Society.

Putative portrait of Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele

Attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller. Oil on canvas.
Very little is known about this picture, other than that it is most unlikely to be Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, or indeed to have been painted by Kneller.

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