John Shute Duncan (1768-1844) was a Scholar of Winchester College, 1782-7 and a Fellow of New College, Oxford, 1787-1830. After a career at the Bar he was appointed Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, a post he held from 1823 to 1829. He was succeeded by his brother, Philip Bury Duncan.

This is one of a pair of portraits of the Duncan brothers (with Ao37). Both are reduced copies of portraits by William Smith, painted c. 1840, and now at New College, Oxford. These were reproduced in lithograph by P. Gauci, but the Winchester copies were evidently made from the painted originals.

An earlier portrait of John Shute Duncan, painted by Thomas Kirkby, is at New College. The ODNB entry for J.S. Duncan refers to a portrait by ‘Kilbert’ at Winchester College, but no artist of that name from the early 19^th century is recorded.

Literature: Winchester Archaeological Society, Winchester College: its history, buildings and customs (Winchester, 1926), p. 159; R.E. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, 3 vols (Oxford, 1935), ii, p. 166n; A. Bell, ‘Duncan, John Shute (1768-1844)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)

Provenance: Unknown, at Winchester College by the early 20^th century

Location: Warden’s Lodgings