Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt
- Overview
- Extended catalogue entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Regency Portraits Catalogue
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt
by Thomas Phillips
1834
30 in. x 24 3/4 in. (762 mm x 629 mm)
NPG 34
This portraitback to top
The portrait is first recorded in Phillips's Sitter Book as 'April 9 1834 Sr Francis Burdett 705 3/4 Exhibited'. According to a letter from Lady Burdett-Coutts, the sitter's daughter, it was commissioned by her cousin, Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart, a champion of Poland against Russian aggression and a keen admirer of Burdett's passion for liberty: 'I consider it a good picture and like my dear Father and it is also an original picture; indeed I may say it has never been out of the family since it was painted by Phillips for my cousin' (letter from Lady Burdett-Coutts in NPG archive). Lord Dudley died in 1854 and following a request for a portrait of her father from Lord Stanhope, then Chairman of Trustees, she presented it in 1858. In the same year it was photographed by Caldesi for a bas-relief panel on the base of the Wellington statue in Phoenix Park, Dublin, the Trustees of the monument believing 'there is no other portrait so authentic' (letter from Colonel T. A. Larcom in NPG archive).
Physical descriptionback to top
Head and shoulders to left in dark brown coat, grey waistcoat, white shirt and bow-tie; hazel eyes, sparse grey hair, ruddy complexion; plain brown background.
Provenanceback to top
Painted for Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart and bought at the sale of his effects 1854 by Baroness Burdett Coutts who gave it to the NPG in 1858.
Exhibitionsback to top
RA 1834 (193); 11 Downing Street 1896 on long loan, dates unspecified.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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 Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt
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