Linnell, John (1792-1882; English), after his own painting
Sir Robert Peel 1838
Mezzotint, c.51 x 40 cm (plate size)
Presented by E.L.Grundy, by 1870
Present location unknown
Linnell’s 1838 oil portrait of Peel (1788-1850), British Prime Minister 1834-5 and 1841-6, is in the National Portrait Gallery in London, which also holds an impression of this print, reproduced here.
According to historian A.J.P.Taylor, Peel “created the modern Conservative Party on the ruins of the old Toryism.” While Home Secretary (1829), he established the modern police force at Scotland Yard – hence, supposedly, the term “bobbies” (known as “peelers,” in Ireland). A bust of Peel was listed among the plaster casts in the NGV’s 1894 catalogue.
See also artist entry for further information on Linnell, a major patron of William Blake.
[photo: impression in the National Portrait Gallery, London]
Refs.
AR 1870-71, p.35 (artist not named); NGV 1894, p.108 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.32); NGV 1905, p.121 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.18)
For Linnell’s oil portrait of Peel (NPG 722), see http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04921/Sir-Robert-Peel-2nd-Bt; see also http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw42850/Sir-Robert-Peel-2nd-Bt (for the NPG’s impression)
For Peel, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel (including the quote from A.J.P.Taylor’s Politicians, Socialism and Historians, 1980, p.75). For the plaster bust formerly in Melbourne, see Casts – II. Busts & heads (II.100)