Sir Thomas Lawrence was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at the Bear Hotel in the Market Square. At age ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his pastel portraits. At 18, he went to London and soon established his reputation as a portrait painter in oils, receiving his first royal commission, a portrait of Queen Charlotte, in 1789. He stayed at the top of his profession until his death, aged 60, in 1830.
Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry,, usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was a British statesman and politician. As secretary to the Viceroy in Ireland, he worked to suppress the Rebellion of 1798 and to secure passage in 1800 of the Irish Act of Union. As the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom from 1812, he was central to the management of the coalition that defeated Napoleon, and was British plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna. In the post-war government of Lord Liverpool, Castlereagh was seen to support harsh measures against agitation for reform, and he ended his life an isolated and unpopular figure.
George Canning was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the last 119 days of his life, from April to August 1827.
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, was a British Whig and then a Tory politician during the late Georgian era. He served as chancellor of the University of Oxford (1792–1809) and as Prime Minister of Great Britain (1783) and then of the United Kingdom (1807–1809). The gap of 26 years between his two terms as prime minister is the longest of any British prime minister. He was also an ancestor of King Charles III through his great-granddaughter Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He also held many other important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. He was also a member of the House of Lords and served as leader.
Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon,, styled The Honourable F. J. Robinson until 1827 and known between 1827 and 1833 as The Viscount Goderich, the name by which he is best known to history, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1827 to 1828.
Charles Arbuthnot was a British diplomat and Tory politician. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1804 and 1807 and held a number of political offices. He was a good friend of the Duke of Wellington. His second wife, Harriet, became a hostess at Wellington's society dinners, and wrote an important diary cataloging contemporary political intrigues.
The Trial of Queen Caroline is an 1823 history painting by the British artist George Hayter. It depicts the events of 1820, in which George IV, who had recently succeeded to the throne, attempted to divorce his long-estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick. In order to secure his divorce, George had a special bill moved in the House of Lords. The Lords heard evidence of the Queen's adultery, but with public opinion strongly in Caroline's favour, the measure was ultimately withdrawn by the government. Caroline remained married to George until her death the following year.
Portrait of Lord Castlereagh is an 1809 portrait by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Irish politician Lord Castlereagh, then serving as the British Secretary of War. Lawrence had developed a reputation as a leading artist of society portraits, and was on friendly terms with the politician.
Portrait of Queen Charlotte is a 1789 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom. Charlotte was the wife of the reigning monarch George III and mother of the future sovereigns George IV and William IV.
The Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is a portrait by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Anglo-Irish soldier and politician the Duke of Wellington. It was begun in early 1815 following Wellington's success in the Peninsular War and shortly before his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the subsequent allied occupation of France under Wellington's command. It is now in the collection of Apsley House, the Duke's London residence. Wellington is shown in military uniform displaying various honours including the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Bath. He has been described as "impassive and aloof" in the painting. Lawrence's depiction of Wellington was used on the British Five Pound note between 1971 and 1991.
The Portrait of Marshal Blücher is an 1814 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
The Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury is a work by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British politician and future Prime Minister Lord Hawkesbury, then in his mid-twenties. It is also known as the Portrait of Lord Liverpool, referring to the title he inherited in 1808 and by which he is better known. It is in the style of Romanticism.
Portrait of Lord Liverpool is a work by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British politician and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.
Sir Charles Stewart is an 1812 portrait by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Irish soldier and diplomat Charles Stewart. Stewart was a career soldier who had served in the Peninsular War as Adjutant General to Allied commander Lord Wellington. Stewart had returned home from Portugal when he posed for the portrait and was subsequently appointed British Ambassador to Prussia, launching a diplomatic career that saw him play a key role in forming the alliance that defeated Napoleon and attending the Congress of Vienna. He is shown in hussar uniform, a branch of light cavalry that became prominent during the Napoleonic Wars. He wears his Peninsular Medal earned for his service over the past four years.
The Portrait of Frederick Robinson is an 1824 portrait painting by the English artist Sir Thomas Lawrence of the politician and Member of Parliament Frederick Robinson. Robinson was made Lord Goderich in 1827 and succeeded George Canning as Prime Minister. After his short-lived administration he later served as War Secretary and was in 1833 elevated to Earl of Ripon. The painting has therefore also been known as the Portrait of Lord Goderich and the Portrait of the Earl of Ripon. It is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London while a print based on the portrait is now in the British Museum.
George III is am 1809 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British monarch George III. It is an oil painting on canvas depicting the King in his robes for the State Opening of Parliament. It was commissioned by George as a gift for the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Henry Addington. George had reigned since 1760, but he was troubled by occasional bouts of mental instability. In 1810, shortly after celebrating the Golden Jubilee on the throne, George was overcome by a more lasting loss of control and his eldest son George was declared Prince Regent. The image by Lawrence continued to be used to represent the King throughout the remainder of his reign.
Sir Walter Scott is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. Begun in 1820, it was completed in 1826 and exhibited at the 1827 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Lawrence was Britain's foremost society portraitist of the Regency era and was commissioned by George IV, a regular patron of the artist for whom he supplied various paintings for the Waterloo Chamber, to depict Scott for a fee of three hundred guineas.
The Marquess of Wellesley is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Irish statesman Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. Wellesley was a senior politician in Britain where he served as Foreign Secretary from 1809 to 1812 and was regarded as a potential future Prime Minister. Lawrence was the leading portraitist of the Regency era, depicting prominent figures from Britain and it's European Allies during the Napoleonic Wars. It is also known as the Portrait of Lord Wellesley.
Portrait of Lord Melbourne is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence portraying the British Whig politician and future Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. It is also known as the Portrait of William Lamb as he had not yet inherited the title from his father when it was painted. It is today in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
