Members of the House of Lords

This portraitback to top

Although there is nothing to prove that this sheet of heads is by Cruikshank, it is close to his work in style; the two domestic scenes in water-colour on the reverse are even more typical. These studies are not known to relate to any finished drawing or print, though they may have been executed with a finished design in mind. The date is based on costume and the apparent age of the sitters. The following numbers represent the sitters in order from left to right, top to bottom:

1 LONDONDERRY, Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of (1778-1854). Soldier and statesman. Full-length figure, gesticulating.
2 LONDONDERRY, Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of (1778-1854). Head only, inscribed above, 'Londonderry'.
3 STANHOPE, Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl (1781-1855). Man of affairs. Head only, inscribed above, 'Stanhope'.
4 NEWCASTLE, Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of (1785-1851). Statesman. Head only, inscribed above, ‘Newcastle'.
5 Unidentified seated figure, possibly the Duke of Newcastle (see no.4 above).
6 ABERDEEN, George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of (1784-1860). Prime minister. Head only, inscribed above, 'Aberdeen'.
7 WHARNCLIFFE, James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron (1776-1845). Statesman. Head only, inscribed above, 'Wharncliffe'.
8 Unidentified seated figure, possibly the Duke of Wellington (see no.11 below).
9 ELLENBOROUGH, Edward Law, 1st Earl of (1790-1871). Governor-general of India. Head only, inscribed above, 'Ellenborough'.
10 Said by G. M. Trevelyan to be DERBY, Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of (1799-1869). Prime minister. Possibly the Earl of Ellenborough (see no.9 above). Full-length standing figure.
11 WELLINGTON, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of (1769-1852). Field-marshal and prime minister. Head only.
12 PEEL, Sir Robert, Bart (1788-1850). Prime minister. Head only.
13 Unidentified standing figure. Possibly Peel.

Provenanceback to top

Presented by Godfrey Brennan, 1935.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen

View all known portraits for Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

View all known portraits for Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough

View all known portraits for Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt

View all known portraits for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington