George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan

by Sir Francis Grant
oil on canvas, 1855
88 1/2 in. x 52 1/4 in. (2248 mm x 1327 mm)
Purchased, 1995
Primary Collection
NPG 6338

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir Francis Grant (1803-1878), Portrait painter and President of the Royal Academy; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Artist or producer associated with 115 portraits, Sitter associated with 21 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 391
  • Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 73, 170 Read entry

    Gilt compo on pine, mitred and pinned with corner blocks, the top section planted on the base frame, the slip and the inner fillet water gilt on a dark grey bole, the S-scrolls at the corners and perhaps some of the strapwork originally burnished. 6 inches wide plus 1 3⁄ 8 inches slip. On the back; two identical labels: By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen./H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent [Royal coat of arms] & the Royal Family./W.THOMAS/CARVER & GILDER,/HOUSE AND ORNAMENTAL PAINTER,/PAPER HANGER, DECORATOR &c./29, BERNERS STREET, OXFORD STREET,/(FROM 39, LONDON STT FITZROY SQUARE.)/Workmen sent to any Part of the Kingdom.

    It was Lord Lucan who issued the order for the celebrated charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in 1854 so the appearance of Sir Francis Grant's portrait at the Royal Academy in 1856 stirred up bitter memories of failure.

    In his long and successful career as an establishment portrait painter, which included the positions of President of the Royal Academy and Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, Grant favoured a variety of frame types:

    • a large-scale running pattern set in C-scrolls with centres and corners of baroque character, in use from at least 1844 to 1862, of which the frame on the 1857 full-length of John Nayler (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) is representative.

    • the type represented here by Lord Lucan, current from at least 1850 to 1855, a Régence revival pattern but fussier and less bold in character than its French forerunners.

    • a more classical frame found on his smaller portraits, with fluted hollow, acanthus mitre leaves and a narrow ribbon-tied laurel top edge, current from at least 1852 to 1862. In the National Portrait Gallery's collection the sketches Sir Edwin Landseer, 1852, and Lord Macartney, 1853, have frames of this type. The type was widely used by other for example by Sir George Reid (see NPG 4990).

    • most common of all, current from at least 1853 to 1873, a classical type of Maratta section but with a small cushion of overlapping leaves and berries next to the sight edge. Of this type, the National Portrait Gallery owns full-lengths of Lord Russell, 1853, and James Grant, brother of the artist, c.1861, as well as a portrait of Sir Walter Scott by J. S. Gilbert which Grant had framed for the Gallery in 1867.

    The frame on the Gallery's portrait of Lord Lucan was made by Grant's framemaker, William Thomas, a leading mid-nineteenth century maker with several royal appointments.

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1855back to top

Current affairs

Palmerston becomes Prime Minister, leading a coalition government after Lord Aberdeen loses a vote of confidence over his handling of the Crimean war. Known by the nickname 'Lord Pumicestone' for his abrasive style, Palmerston is the oldest prime minister in history to take up the post for the first time at the age of 71.
Stamp duty on newspapers is abolished, creating the mass media market in the UK as newspapers became more widely and cheaply available.

Art and science

Following a trip through the Holy Land to the Dead Sea, William Holman Hunt begins his symbolically-laden painting The Scapegoat.
John Millais marries Effie Gray, previously John Ruskin's wife, after their marriage was annulled that year.
The social theorist and sociologist Herbert Spencer and philosopher G. H. Lewes, publishes Principles of Pyschology, exploring a physiological basis to psychology.

International

The Fall of Sebastopol in the Crimean war, as Russia retreats, and the exhaustion of the Turkish alliance means the war nears its end. Despite being rebuffed by Florence Nightingale's team of nurses, Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole travels to the Crimea, opening a 'British Hotel' for sick and injured soldiers. She gains significant attention and praise for her nursing work.

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