George Hayter, 78 Wimpole St, to G. A. Ellis

1 piece

"In 1820 the ‘delicate investigation’ of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV, caused a sensation. The introduction of the bill of pains and penalties aimed to ‘deprive Her Majesty Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of the Title, Prerogatives, Rights, Privileges and Pretensions of Queen Consort of this Realm, and to dissolve the Marriage between his Majesty and the said Queen’ (J. B. Priestley, The Prince of Pleasure and his Regency, 1971 edn, 277). Two hundred and sixty peers assembled in the House of Lords on 17 August and Hayter, with a commission from the young politician George Agar Ellis, planned a painting of the remarkable events, sketching tirelessly on the spot in the House of Lords. The painting (NPG) captured the high drama of the scene, and in order to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the event Hayter staged his own exhibition in Pall Mall in June 1823, with a catalogue that anticipated his later aim to be ‘the painter of the history of his own time’ (Hayter, Descriptive Catalogue . . . of the House of Commons, vii). But further efforts to win commissions to paint grand ceremonials, such as the coronation of George IV or the crowning of the king of France, Charles X, in 1825 (which he tried to persuade Robert Peel to commission) came to nothing." [DNB]

Thanking his correspondent for his kindness in getting the peers to sit, and mentioning that he had an appointment with Mr Brougham, who had promised to "exert himself by manoeuvre to get the Queen, but wishes it not to be known."