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Lot Essay
The identity of the man in the present portrait has been the subject of some discussion. Chantrey is known to have executed two portraits of Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister in 1834 and again from 1835 to 1841. The first was executed in 1828 and only one example is recorded, in a private collection in the UK (Roscoe, loc. cit.). A later bust is known to have been commissioned in 1841, an example of which is at Windsor Castle (inv. 35433), which looks like an older version of the man in the present portrait.
However, a plaster version of this bust in the Ashmolean Museum is identified as James Morrison, MP, of Basildon Park, and the present bust is equated with a known marble version of Morrison in the Chantrey Ledger (op. cit., no. 289b). The resemblance to other known portraits of Morrison is not strong, but it might be that Chantrey was flattering his sitter. The present bust is dated 1841, the year of the Morrison portrait, but it has also been suggested that it could represent a version of the 1828 Melbourne bust, executed much later at the particular request of a patron.
However, a plaster version of this bust in the Ashmolean Museum is identified as James Morrison, MP, of Basildon Park, and the present bust is equated with a known marble version of Morrison in the Chantrey Ledger (op. cit., no. 289b). The resemblance to other known portraits of Morrison is not strong, but it might be that Chantrey was flattering his sitter. The present bust is dated 1841, the year of the Morrison portrait, but it has also been suggested that it could represent a version of the 1828 Melbourne bust, executed much later at the particular request of a patron.