Lot 98: W.H. Beaumont (British, active 1833-1850) A silhouette of John Lamb (1799-1850), full-length, profile to left, wearing double-breasted frock coat, trousers, white stock and slippers, seated in a red armchair, holding a newspaper in his right hand

A silhouette of John Lamb (1799-1850), full-length, profile to left, wearing double-breasted frock coat, trousers, white stock and slippers, seated in a red armchair, holding a newspaper in his right hand.
Painted on card, partially in colour, maple wood frame, the reverse inscribed John Lamb D.D. born Feb 28 1799/ died April 20 1850/ Master of Corpus Christi Coll Cambridge/ 1822 to 1850/ Dean of Bristol 1838 to 1850/ Vicar of Olveston/ Gloucestersh/ 1846 to 1850.
Rectangular, 250mm (9 13/16in) high

The son of a vicar from Suffolk, John Lamb graduated from Corpus Christi, Cambridge, in 1811, before returning to become Master of the College at an unusually early age in 1822. The following year, he became Vice-Chancellor of the University, and was nominated to the deanery of Bristol in 1837. A staunch supporter of the Whig party, Lamb's political allegiances earned him some powerful enemies in Cambridge and there were machinations to prevent him from taking the vice-chancellorship for a second term. The father of fourteen children by his wife, Anne, he died on 19 April, 1850, and was buried in a vault beneath Corpus Christi chapel.