Robert Stewart, 2nd Viscount Castlereagh and 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, MP (1769–1822)
Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1821 (exhibited at the Royal Academy)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2794 x 1905 mm (110 x 75 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Mount Stewart, County Down
NT 1542328
Caption
Robert Stewart in his robes as Knight of the Garter as worn at the Coronation of King George IV. Robert had recently succeeded his father as 2nd Marquess of Londonderry. A year later, in 1822, he took his own life while suffering from a mental breakdown. This painting is known to have hung in Castlereagh’s London house but at some point it was moved to Mount Stewart and hung, as it does now, above the Congress Desk.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCH, MP (1769-1822), by Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), 1821. A full-length portrait, in peer's robes as worn at the Coronation of King George IV, by a draped portico with identifying inscription 'Robert, 2d M. of Londonderry'. Robert Stewart was the only child of the 1st Marquess of Londonderry. Known for most of his life as Viscount Castlereagh, he was active as a politician and was an influential figure at the Congress of Vienna following the demise of Napoleon. He succeeded to the Marquessate in 1821, a year before a breakdown which led to his suicide.
Provenance
By family descent; accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by HM Government and allocated to the National Trust for display at Mount Stewart, 2015.
Makers and roles
Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), artist
References
Garlick 1989 Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence. A complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Oxford, 1989, no. 507(d) Gower 1900 Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, Sir Thomas Lawrence, London 1900, p. 146 Armstrong, 1913: Sir Walter Armstrong, Lawrence, London, 1913, p. 121 Whitley 1930 W.Whitley, Art in England 1821 - 1837, London, 1930, p. 7 Montgomery Hyde 1937 H. Montgomery Hyde, Londonderry House and its Pictures, London 1937, p. 58