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John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury

19 of 24 portraits of John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury

by Faustin Betbeder ('Faustin')
chromolithograph?, circa 1874
8 7/8 in. x 5 3/4 in. (226 mm x 147 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D10932

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

This portraitback to top

Lubbock is depicted here as a determined politician, his arms firmly crossed before an official document and his features fixed into an expression of resolve. Indeed, he developed a reputation as one of the most efficient backbenchers of his day, pushing multiple bills through parliament including the celebrated Bank Holidays Act of 1871, to which the quotation from Shakespeare's Henry VIII below this portrait refers. The French artist Betbeder contributed numerous caricatures of British personalities to the London Figaro, a weekly periodical devoted to literature, art, politics, criticism and satire.

Events of 1874back to top

Current affairs

Disraeli becomes Prime Minister for the second time, winning the general election and giving the Conservative party its first absolute majority since the 1840s.
Professional opportunities for women develop, with the opening of the London School of Economics to women, the foundation of the London School of Medicine for Women and the Women's Protective and Provident League.

Art and science

The Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc., including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro organise an exhibition in Paris. Art critic Louis Leroy gives the group its name, criticising Monet's Impression, Sunrise for being merely an unfinished 'impression'. Impressionism becomes recognisable for techniques such as short, broken brushstrokes barely conveying forms, pure unblended colours, and an emphasis on the effects of light.

International

Britain annexes the Gold Coast, the region on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, now the independent nation of Ghana, following the second Ashanti war. The Treaty of Fomena secured massive financial reparations for the British, and strengthened their hold on the prosperous resources and trade routes in the regions. However, weakening the Ashanti tribe greatly destabilised the area.

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