In 1771 Thomas Gainsborough, then living in the Circus nearby,
painted a portrait of Captain William Wade as a present to the new
Assembly Rooms. This picture of the first Master of Ceremonies at
the new Assembly Rooms hung in the Octagon Room, as it does today.
Captain Wade is dressed in the height of fashion, in a
tight-fitting red silk suit and gold waistcoat. He wears his badge
of office on a blue ribbon round his neck.
Other works of art now on display in the Assembly Rooms are not
original to the building but are from Bath & North East
Somerset Council’s collection (housed at the Victoria Art Gallery in
Bath).
Download a full list of
works of art at the Assembly Rooms here.
Captain William Wade by Thomas Gainsborough,
1771