Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh)

Sitterback to top

• Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh) (1769-1822), Statesman. Sitter associated with 41 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Portrait painter, collector and President of the Royal Academy. Artist associated with 682 portraits, Sitter in 25 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Chief secretary of Ireland during the 1798 Rebellion, Castlereagh was said to be the only one to fully appreciate the magnitude of the Irish crisis. He was blamed by Irish patriots for the brutal way in which the rebels were suppressed - hung from trees and shot without any kind of hearing - resulting in at least 20,000 casualties. In order to avert French threats to land in Ireland and help the rebels fight the British, he was one of the main architects of the Act of Union (1801) which integrated Ireland and England and abolished the Irish Parliament.

Related worksback to top

• NPG D37412: Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh) (source portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

• Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 97
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 387
• Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997)
• Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 320

Subjects & Themesback to top

• On display at the Gallery
• Portraits with Archive documents
• Regency Ireland