The Right Honourable John Bright, MP (1811-1889) thumbnail 1
Not on display

The Right Honourable John Bright, MP (1811-1889)

Oil Painting
1869 (painted)
Artist/Maker

Oil Painting, 'The Right Honorable John Bright MP (1811-1889)', Charles Lucy, 1869

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Right Honourable John Bright, MP (1811-1889) (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil Painting, 'The Right Honorable John Bright MP (1811-1889)', Charles Lucy, 1869
Dimensions
  • Approx. height: 58.3cm
  • Approx. width: 73.6cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Marks and inscriptions
C Lucy 1869 (signed and dated)
Credit line
Given by Sir Joshua Walmsley
Object history
Given by Sir Joshua Walmsley, 1872

Historical significance: The history painter Charles Lucy (1814-1873) studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Paul Delaroche and later at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He lived for many years at Barbizon, near Fontainebleau. He specialised in large historical pictures from English history, with a particular interest in Puritan scenes, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1834 to 1873. Lucy received a premium of £200 for his painting Embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers in the ship Mayflower in the Westminster Hall competition of 1847.

In 1868 Lucy was commissioned to paint a series of portraits of eminent figures. The majority were 19th-century English parliamentarians: Joseph Hume, Richard Cobden, John Bright, Gladstone and Disraeli; also depicted were Oliver Cromwell, Horatio Nelson and Giuseppe Garibaldi. The Liberal MP Sir Joshua Walmsley, who commissioned the series, bequeathed it to the V&A in 1872.
Collection
Accession number
359-1872

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Record createdJuly 4, 2006
Record URL
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