By John Jackson, R.A. (1778-1831). Size: 24 1/4 wide by 29 1/4 inches. Accession O0014.
Jurist, philosopher, historian, and politician. As a man he was by repute good-humored, sociable, lazy, speculative, and factious. Called to the bar of England in 1795, he prospered in constitutional and international law, yet his income did not allow the literary work he preferred. For its pension and cheaper living, he sought office in India, arriving in 1803 as recorder of Bombay. In 1806 he became a judge in the Indian Court of Vice-Admiralty, serving ably. But his intellectual activity, health, and finances suffered in a colonial environment. In 1812 he returned to England, becoming notable as a parliamentary reformer. Following his lead, Prime Minister Peel pressed for a reduction of the types of capital crime. Mackintosh was professor of law and general politics from 1818 to 1824. In 1830 he finished his most important work, the "Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy," for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.