General Phipps, Mrs Norton and 2nd Baron Alvanley at the theatre
2 of 4 portraits of William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
General Phipps, Mrs Norton and 2nd Baron Alvanley at the theatre
by Sir Edwin Landseer
pen and wash, circa 1834-1835
7 1/4 in. x 8 7/8 in. (184 mm x 225 mm)
Purchased, 1972
Primary Collection
NPG 4918
Sittersback to top
- William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley (1789-1849), Soldier. Sitter in 4 portraits. Identify
- Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (née Sheridan, later Lady Stirling-Maxwell) (1808-1877), Novelist and poet; Law reform campaigner. Sitter in 11 portraits. Identify
- Edmund Phipps (1760-1837), General; son of 1st Baron Mulgrave. Sitter in 6 portraits. Identify
Artistback to top
- Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 57 portraits, Sitter in 23 portraits.
This portraitback to top
The emaciated figure of Edmund Phipps, Keeper of the Queen's Privy Purse and much involved in Landseer's royal commissions, stands to the left holding a programme and spectacles while the portly Baron Alvanley, a noted Regency buck and spendthrift, leans against a screen on the right. Mrs Caroline Norton - poet, novelist and society wit - sits between them wearing fashionable snake bandeaux in her hair.
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Caricatures by Edwin Landseer (16 November 2009 - 23 May 2010)
Events of 1834back to top
Current affairs
Sir Robert Peel, Tory, replaces Whig Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister, promising measured reform in a shift from reactionary 'Tory' to more measured 'Conservative' politics (he had voted for the 1832 Reform Act).Trial of Tolpuddle Martyrs, six labourers transported to Australia after trying to raise funds for workers in need by forming a Friendly Society.
Art and science
Charles Babbage's invents the Analytic Machine. Considered to be the forerunner to the modern computer, the machine was able to make automatic mathematical calculations.Edward Bulwer-Lytton publishes his hugely popular, but now largely neglected, novel Last Days of Pompeii, set in the Italian city at the time of Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79AD.
International
Dom Miguel I, King of Portugal, is defeated by his brother Pedro IV, in the Portuguese civil war.Slavery is abolished in the British dominions, although slaves still working are indentured to their former owners in an 'apprenticeship' system; the philanthropist Joseph Sturge was a prominent critic of the policy, which was abolished in 1838. Whilst slave owners received compensation, slaves received nothing.
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