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Henry Pierce Bone (British, 1779-1855) John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845), as Chancellor of the Exchequer, full length in Chancellor's robes over black mourning suit, standing beside a George II giltwood console table from Spencer House draped with green cloth, his right hand resting on a document entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws', large leather-bound books and folio propped against table leg, inkwell, salt cellar and quill on silver stand on table, red curtain, pillar and curtain interior; landscape background image 1
Henry Pierce Bone (British, 1779-1855) John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845), as Chancellor of the Exchequer, full length in Chancellor's robes over black mourning suit, standing beside a George II giltwood console table from Spencer House draped with green cloth, his right hand resting on a document entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws', large leather-bound books and folio propped against table leg, inkwell, salt cellar and quill on silver stand on table, red curtain, pillar and curtain interior; landscape background image 2
Henry Pierce Bone (British, 1779-1855) John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845), as Chancellor of the Exchequer, full length in Chancellor's robes over black mourning suit, standing beside a George II giltwood console table from Spencer House draped with green cloth, his right hand resting on a document entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws', large leather-bound books and folio propped against table leg, inkwell, salt cellar and quill on silver stand on table, red curtain, pillar and curtain interior; landscape background image 3
The Twinight Collection
Lot 52*

Henry Pierce Bone
(British, 1779-1855)
John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845), as Chancellor of the Exchequer, full length in Chancellor's robes over black mourning suit, standing beside a George II giltwood console table from Spencer House draped with green cloth, his right hand resting on a document entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws', large leather-bound books and folio propped against table leg, inkwell, salt cellar and quill on silver stand on table, red curtain, pillar and curtain interior; landscape background

500 Years of European Ceramics including the Twinight Collection
4 July 2024, 12:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £12,800 inc. premium

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Henry Pierce Bone (British, 1779-1855)

John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845), as Chancellor of the Exchequer, full length in Chancellor's robes over black mourning suit, standing beside a George II giltwood console table from Spencer House draped with green cloth, his right hand resting on a document entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws', large leather-bound books and folio propped against table leg, inkwell, salt cellar and quill on silver stand on table, red curtain, pillar and curtain interior; landscape background.
Enamel on copper, signed and dated on the spine of the largest leather-bound book 1835. HPBone, signed, dated and fully inscribed on the counter-enamel, John Charles Earl Spencer Viscount Althorp, later Chancellor of the Exchequer London Feby. 1835 Painted from Life by Henry Pierce Bone Enamel Painter to Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent & Princess Victoria, frosted ormolu mount engraved on lower edge ENAMEL. H.P. BONE., gilt-wood frame.
Rectangular, 350mm (13 3/4in) high

Provenance:
Commissioned by John Charles, Viscount Althorp, later 3rd Earl Spencer (1782-1845) and thence by descent
The Spencer House Sale, Christie's London, 8 July 2010, lot 1065
The Twinight Collection

Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy, 1835, no. 436, as Viscount Althorp (now Earl Spencer) Chancellor of the Exchequer, - enamel, from the life H.P. Bone
London, South Kensington Museum, Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, June 1865, no. 1336 (lent by the Earl Spencer).

Footnotes

Unlike the majority of Henry Pierce Bone's works, in this instance, the drawing was taken from life, rather than from an existing portrait, probably at Spencer House in London, before a view of Green Park.

A year before the present miniature was executed, John Charles, Viscount Spencer sat for Henry Pierce Bone in a plain black coat and without his robes of office. This smaller, head and shoulders, octagonal enamel dated August 1834 was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 6 November 1997, lot 267 (erroneously identified as having been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1835, no. 436) and is now in the Spencer Collection at Althorp.

John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, PC, DL, FRS, styled Viscount Althorp from 1783 to 1834, was a British statesman and abolitionist. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne from 1830 to 1834. Due to his reputation for integrity, he was nicknamed "Honest Jack".

The George II gilt-wood console table next to which Viscount Althorp stands was designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart for the Great Room at Spencer House, St James's and is now at Althorp. The document on the table entitled 'Amendment of the Poor Laws' refers to the New Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 which followed the Reform Act of 1832. Under the premiership of Lord Grey, Viscount Althorp was instrumental in bringing about these constitutional reforms considered, "the great aim and object of his political life" (D. Le Marchant, Memoir of John Charles, Viscount Althorp, third Earl Spencer, ed. H. D. Le Marchant, 1876).

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