Lot 1916
CIRCLE OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, PRA (1769-1830)
PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, BELIEVED TO BE ROBERT STEWART, 2nd MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY, KG (1769-1822)
Quarter length, wearing a dark coat, cream waistcoat and dark cravat, before a red swag
Oil on canvas
74 x 61.5cm.
Provenance: By 1838 M.B. Ingham, London as "an aged Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh", then by family descent; By 1930 Mr. Walter Beebe, Chelsea, London; By 1945 R. Clarke, London and by descent to family in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
* Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry was known all his life as Viscount Castlereagh, becoming 2nd Marquess of Londonderry in 1821 just before his death. He was a Irish/British statesman who became one of the most distinguished British Foreign Secretaries in British history (1812-1822). He was central in managing the Grand Alliance defeat of Napoleon and was the senior British diplomat at the Congress of Vienna which redrew the map of Europe in 1815.
