Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) Prime Minister

Sir Francis Grant (1803 - 1878)

Oil on canvas

1862

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Image of Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) Prime Minister
  • About the work
    Location
    Country: UK
    City: London
    Place: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall
    In this portrait, Lord Palmerston wears the badge, known as ‘the Lesser George’, the riband, or sash, and the star of the Order of the Garter, the highest English Order of Chivalry. He holds documents in his left hand and leans back onto a dispatch box (traditionally used by government ministers to carry documents), which rests on a plinth.
  • About the artist
    Sir Francis Grant, son of a Scottish Laird, took up painting professionally after having exhausted his £10,000 inheritance by his late 20s. An early enthusiasm for fox hunting led him to settle at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, the centre of hunting society, where he studied under the well-known sporting painter, John Ferneley. In 1840 Grant’s portrait of Queen Victoria riding with Prime Minister Lord Melbourne and others in the Great Park at Windsor established his reputation and he soon became one of the most fashionable society painters of the day. He was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1851 and its President in 1865. Grant died at the age of 75 and was buried at the cemetery near his country residence at Melton Mowbray.
  • Explore
    People
    Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston Temple (1784 - 1865)
    Places
    Subjects
    paper (as Subject), male portrait, sideburns, man, 19th century costume, suit, cravat, wing collar, riband, Order of the Garter, Viscount, Leader of the Liberal Party, Prime Minister, column, pillar (architectural feature)
    Materials & Techniques
    canvas, oil, oil painting
  • Details
    Artist
    Sir Francis Grant (1803 - 1878)
    Title
    Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) Prime Minister
    Date
    1862
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    height: 141.00 cm, width: 111.50 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Christie's, 28 February 1947
    Provenance
    Collection of company promoter Albert Grant, Baron Grant in the Italian nobility (1831-1899) of 41 Queen’s Gate Terrace, Kensington, London, (purchased for 1,200 guineas); collection of J. M. Woodgate; on whose behalf sold by J. M. Woodgate through Christie’s, London, on 7 June 1879 (Lot 70), for 290 guineas (or £304.10.0), as ‘Portrait of Lord Palmerston’; from which sale purchased by ‘Graves’ (possibly writer on art Algernon Graves, 1845–1922); sold through Christie’s, London, on 28 February 1947 (Lot 55); from which sale purchased by ‘Scott’ on behalf of the Office of Works
    GAC number
    291