Marguerite, Countess of Blessington

Overview
Extended Catalogue Entry

by Charles Martin
pencil, 1844
7 3/4 in. x 5 5/8 in. (197 mm x 143 mm)
Purchased, 1912
Primary Collection
NPG 1645a

Sitterback to top

Marguerite, Countess of Blessington (1789-1849), Novelist and beauty; wife of 1st Earl of Blessington. Sitter in 9 portraits.

Artistback to top

Charles Martin (1820-1906), Artist. Artist associated with 7 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 39
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 60

Subject/Themeback to top

Pencil

Events of 1844back to top

Current affairs

Britain experiences a railway boom. Peel's government passes a series of Acts creating provision of cheap, regular rail services. George Hudson, the first great railway entrepreneur, who controlled over 1,000 miles of railway track and whose enterprises made York a major commercial and transport hub, becomes known as 'the Railway King'.

Art and science

Disraeli's Coningsby is published. The first of his 1840s 'Young England' trilogy, it was the cultural manifesto of Disraeli's vision for a new Conservativism.
David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson set up their innovative and pioneering photography studio in Edinburgh, capturing portraits of both Scottish society figures and workers, as well as urban and rural landscape scenes.

International

Tensions continue to mount in Eastern Europe over Russian imperialist ambitions, as Tsar Nicholas I describes the Ottoman Empire as 'the Sick Man of Europe'.
With the overthrow of the Haitians, the Spanish-speaking portion of the island of Hispaniola gains independence, as the Dominican Republic.

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