Andrew Brunatti Profile picture
Nov 15, 2022 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Castlereagh Creeping the House of Lords, or the Story of a Misidentified Portrait.

A 🧵

2 artists captured the proceedings against Queen Caroline in the #HouseofLords in 1820, and both include #ViscountCastlereagh. Let's start with James Stephanoff.

#twitterstorians #HistParl Image
Stephanoff shows Castlereagh perched on a staircase, watching from a small window. The 1823 key for Stephanoff's work identifies this figure as "The Marquis of Londonderry [Castlereagh], who usually took his station on the stairs leading to the gallery during the investigation." ImageImage
The other portrayal of the trial is, of course, George Hayter's monumental painting. Hayter, however, shows Castlereagh positioned in the box of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, on the bottom right corner. Image
The official key to Hayter's painting confirms the identity of this figure (No.184) as Castlereagh, leaning nonchalantly on his left elbow propping up his head with his hand. The key identifies the figure in the stairway window (No.147) as Charles Arbuthnot. ImageImage
Interestingly, Hayter's original sketch for the painting doesn't include the box of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and, instead of Arbuthnot leaning through the stairway window, shows a figure framed by the window--similar to the way Castlereagh was portrayed by Stephanoff. ImageImage
In fact, Hayter *did* originally portray Castlereagh in the stairway window.

The small portrait study shown here is included among Hayter's preliminary studies for the painting. It's found in the @NPGLondon collection but misidentified. Image
The study has a pencil notation on the left reading 'Mr Arbuthnot' which presumably led @NPGLondon to catalogue it as a portrait of Charles Arbuthnot. However, the notation directly below the study, in the same pen/wash as the main image, reads 'Left Side - for Ld Castlereagh.' ImageImage
What is more, in this study the figure is leaning on his left elbow, propping up his head with his hand--a nonchalant pose which is very similar to the one in which Castlereagh is portrayed in the final painting.
So why would Hayter change Castlereagh's position in the composition? Possibly because the perspective of the chamber actually rendered the staircase window too narrow to have a figure's upper torso framed by the window as Hayter originally intended.
With this perspective issue, the only viable option to include a figure in the window space was to have them leaning *through* the window--an awkward solution, particularly when portraying a senior cabinet minister like Castlereagh. Image
So Hayter exercised creative license and found a more dignified but less accurate position for Castlereagh in the box of the Usher for the Black Rod, and replaced him in the stairway window with Arbuthnot. Not great for Arbuthnot, but c'est la vie.
This would also better explain the pencil notation on the study. The notation doesn't indicate that Arbuthnot is the subject of the study--it was Hayter subsequently noting his intent to *move* Arbuthnot into the window space.

The subject of Hayter's study is Castlereagh. Image
@threadreaderapp unroll please

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Andrew Brunatti

Andrew Brunatti Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AndrewBrunatti

Jan 24, 2023
Which Lord Londonderry is portrayed in this caricature/portrait by Richard Dighton?

A somewhat confusing🧵

#twitterstorians #19thC #portraiture

Image: Richard Dighton, @britishmuseum (BM), 1852,1116.559 Uncoloured print, showing a...
Between roughly 1818-1828, Richard Dighton did a series of profile portraits of men in Regency London's high society. Most were etchings, and the BM has digitized many prints held in its collection--they are worth your time if you're interested in Regency society, style, and art.
The earlier prints of this particular portrait, published individually by Dighton himself, are clearly dated to July 1821. Copies show up in the collections of the @britishmuseum, @NPGLondon, and @RCT.

(details shown here are from prints in the BM and RCT collections) A detail image showing the ...A detail image of the same ...
Read 15 tweets
Nov 25, 2022
The Stallburg in Vienna.

An elegant 16th Century building on the edge of the sprawling Hofburg palace. It housed the royal art collection and the royal stables.

It was also home to Austria's most efficient intelligence organization.

A 🧵

#twitterstorians #IntelHistory
The late-Renaissance building with an inner courtyard surrounded by arcades was multi-functional: it housed the royal stables, guest apartments, the royal art collection, and an armoury. In fact, the ground floor is still used as the stables for the vaunted Lipizzaner Stallions.
Around 1711 the Stallburg also became the home of the Ziffernkanzlei--the 'Number Office.'

A name both suggestive and vague (and one of many used throughout the organization's existence), it was really the secret office for mail interception and decryption.
Read 12 tweets
Aug 12, 2022
#OTD in 1822, #ViscountCastlereagh, Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons, died by his own hand.

Thanks very much to those of you who have followed my #Castlereagh200 threads, looking at Castlereagh's career through the lens of mental health.

1/

#twitterstorians Detail of Castlereagh's sta...
I was at a loss for how to mark the day after spending the last 2 years writing the research article on which all these tweets are based.

Maybe something more reflective is fitting.

I had always been interested in Castlereagh from a diplomatic and political standpoint...

2/
...and became increasingly interested in exploring the mental health aspect of his story because it was a challenging area that would combine history, politics, psychology, medicine, and other disciplines.

So I started researching in 2020.

3/
Read 9 tweets
Aug 10, 2022
In the last few months of #Castlereagh200 threads we've covered a lot of ground, looking at many stressors that put Castlereagh's #MentalHealth at risk.

Now that we're only days from the bicentenary of his death, let's look at some conclusions.

#twitterstorians

1/ Viscount Castlereagh, Thoma...
First, the stress on Castlereagh was cumulative and pervasive. The downward spiral that he experienced in the weeks preceding his suicide was only the final chapter in a story that had been developing for yrs. The overlap between the professional and the social made it worse.

2/
Castlereagh was arguably a successful policymaker. But what did that require? He had to be a strategist, a tactician, a courtier, a whip, an orator, a master of protocol, an ambassador, a traveller, a negotiator, a socialite, and a political campaigner.

3/
Read 15 tweets
Aug 8, 2022
As we turn the corner into the week of August 12, I want to focus this #Castlereagh200 🧵 on a final area of #MentalHealth risk connected to the workplace: job insecurity.

Bear with me though--I turn this one on its head.

#ViscountCastlereagh #twitterstorians

1/14 Detail from 'A Knight of th...
If you've been following these #Castlereagh200 threads, you may call that I'm drawing from a risk framework that forms the basis for my upcoming article on Castlereagh and mental health. See the attached table, adapted from Boini, 2020 and Gollac et al, 2011.

2/14 Image
Job insecurity has long been recognized as a mental health risk. But was Castlereagh's job insecure? No.

Electorally he was in safe seats, only losing his home seat briefly in 1805. His position in Cabinet after 1812 was arguably more secure than Liverpool's.

3/14 Detail from 'Castle-Fish Do...
Read 15 tweets
Aug 3, 2022
For the next #Castlereagh200 thread, let's look at value conflicts.

Value conflicts contribute to chronic stress, and are a serious risk factor in #MentalHealth.

What kind of value conflicts did Castlereagh face throughout his career as a public servant?

1/

#twitterstorians Turner after Lawrence, 1814...
Value conflicts can be internal (e.g. an individual having to choose between competing values at a personal level) or external (e.g. an individual's personal values conflicting with a competing value system in their professional or social environment).

2/
In the workplace, value conflicts can create the perception that a competing value system is keeping a person from achieving good or just outcomes, or can lead to ethical dilemmas. The tension can be difficult to identify, but pervasive and demoralizing.

3/
Read 17 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(