Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli (Millais)

Last updated
Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (by Sir John Everett Millais, 1881) - National Portrait Gallery (NPG 3241).jpg
Artist John Everett Millais
Year1881
Type Oil on canvas, portrait
Dimensions127.6 cm× 931. cm(50.2 in× 367 in)
Location National Portrait Gallery, London

Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli is an 1881 portrait painting by the English artist John Everett Millais featuring the British politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. [1] [2] [3] Known in his youth as a novelist, Disraeli turned to politics during the Victorian era and twice held the premiership. He was made Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876.

Contents

Millais had made his name as part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Disraeli sat for the artist at the suggestion of Lord Ronald Gower. Millais managed to schedule only three sittings as Disraeli was in poor health and died shortly afterwards. At the request of Queen Victoria the painting was sent in as a late entry to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition that year. It is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London, having been acquired in 1945 through a gift by Lord Hambleden. [4] Millais also painted Disraeli's political rival William Gladstone, in 1879, and this is now also in the National Portrait Gallery. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Anne Disraeli</span> Wife of British Prime Minister

Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield was a British peeress and society figure who was the wife of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Everett Millais</span> British painter and illustrator (1829–1896)

Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded at his family home in London, at 83 Gower Street. Millais became the most famous exponent of the style, his painting Christ in the House of His Parents (1849–50) generating considerable controversy, and he produced a picture that could serve as the embodiment of the historical and naturalist focus of the group, Ophelia, in 1851–52.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood</span> Group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member "Brotherhood" partly modelled on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John William Waterhouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Beaconsfield</span> Extinct earldom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory policies over those of his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone. Disraeli had also promoted the Royal Titles Act 1876 that had given Victoria the title of Empress of India. The subsidiary title of the earldom was Viscount Hughenden, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederic George Stephens</span> English painter (1827–1907)

Frederic George Stephens was a British art critic, and one of the two 'non-artistic' members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1880 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 1880 United Kingdom general election was a general election in the United Kingdom held from 31 March to 27 April 1880.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Gladstone ministry</span>

The Conservative government under Benjamin Disraeli had been defeated at the 1868 general election, so in December 1868 the victorious William Gladstone formed his first government. He introduced reforms in the British Army, the legal system and the Civil Service, and disestablished the Church of Ireland. In foreign affairs he pursued a peaceful policy. His ministry was defeated in the 1874 election, whereupon Disraeli formed a ministry and Gladstone retired as Leader of the Liberal Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Grant (artist)</span> British painter (1803-1878)

Sir Francis Grant was a Scottish portrait painter who painted Queen Victoria and many British aristocratic and political figures. He served as President of the Royal Academy.

<i>A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881</i> Painting by William Powell Frith

A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881 is a painting by the English artist William Powell Frith exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1883. It depicts a group of distinguished Victorians visiting the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1881, just after the death of the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, whose portrait by John Everett Millais was included on a screen at the special request of Queen Victoria. The room is Gallery III, the largest and most imposing room at Burlington House.

<i>A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomews Day</i> Painting by John Everet Millais

A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge (1851–52) is the full, exhibited title of a painting by John Everett Millais, and was produced at the height of his Pre-Raphaelite period. It was accompanied, at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1852, with a long quote reading: "When the clock of the Palais de Justice shall sound upon the great bell, at daybreak, then each good Catholic must bind a strip of white linen round his arm, and place a fair white cross in his cap.—The order of the Duke of Guise." This long title is usually abbreviated to A Huguenot or A Huguenot, on St Bartholomew's Day.

<i>Mariana</i> (Millais) Painting by John Everett Millais

Mariana is an 1851 oil-on-panel painting by John Everett Millais. The image depicts the solitary Mariana from William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, as retold in Tennyson's 1830 poem "Mariana". The painting is regarded as an example of Millais's "precision, attention to detail, and stellar ability as a colorist". It has been held by Tate Britain since 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Oldham Barlow</span> English mezzotint engraver

Thomas Oldham Barlow was an English mezzotint engraver. His prints helped to popularise the works of painters like John Phillip and Sir John Everett Millais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Jopling</span> English painter

Louise Jane Jopling was an English painter of the Victorian era, and one of the most prominent female artists of her generation.

<i>John Ruskin</i> (Millais) Painting by John Everett Millais

John Ruskin is a portrait of the leading Victorian art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). It was painted by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais (1829–1896) during 1853–54. John Ruskin was an early advocate of the Pre-Raphaelite group of artists and part of their success was due to his efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primrose Day</span> Anniversary of the Death of British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli

Primrose Day marked the anniversary of the death of the British statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, on 19 April 1881. The day was marked each year into the 1920s, with arrangements of primroses left at Disraeli's tomb at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden and his statue in Parliament Square and many supporters wearing primroses as buttonholes, garlands, and hat decorations.

<i>The House of Commons, 1833</i> Painting by George Hayter

The House of Commons, 1833 is a large history painting by the British artist George Hayter. It depicts the first meeting of the House of Commons following the 1832 Great Reform Act and the subsequent general election that produced a landslide majority for the ruling Whig Government. In the Victorian era the painting was often known as The First Reformed Parliament.

<i>Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli</i> (Grant) Painting by Francis Grant

Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli is an 1852 portrait painting by the British artist Francis Grant. It depicts Benjamin Disraeli, a Conservative politician and future Prime Minister. The same year Disraeli was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Tory Government of the Earl of Derby. It is also known by the alternative title Disraeli as a Young Man.

<i>Portrait of John Everett Millais</i> Painting by Charles Robert Leslie

Portrait of John Everett Millais is an 1852 portrait painting by the Anglo-American artist Charles Robert Leslie of the British painter John Everett Millais.

References

Bibliography