Irish Arts Review

Art of the EnlightenmentAuthor(s): Anne StewartSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 28, No. 1 (SPRING (MARCH - MAY 2011)), p. 144Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41206301 .

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COLLECTIONS

CURATOR'S CHOICE

Art of the Enlightenment Anne Stewart selects an 18th-century pastel portrait of George, 1st Earl Macartney from the Ulster Museum Collection

GUSTAF LUNDBERG (1695-1786) GEORGE. 1st EARL MACARTNEY (1737-1806), 1767 pastel on grey paper 66.5x51. 5cm © National Museums Northern Ireland 2010 Collection Ulster Museum

subsequently held a succession of posts, including Governor of Madras; however his

greatest achievement was to be appointed first British Ambassador to China in 1 792-4.

Born at Iissanoure, Co Antrim, Macartney belonged to a Scottish family settled in the north of Ireland since the 1 7 th century. He showed early ability, entering Trinity College Dublin at thirteen, and was the great-grandson and main ben-

eficiary of 'Black George' Macartney of Belfast, whose careful investments had resulted in him becoming one of the

largest landowners in Co Antrim. In 1 760

Macartney set off on his Grand Tour of

Europe. He did not follow the usual route, stopping in the Low Countries and France, but went direcdy to Italy where he showed

particular interest in the organisation of

government and education.

Macartney returned through Switzerland, spending lengthy periods during 1 761-3 in Geneva, where he vis- ited Rousseau at Neuchâtel and Voltaire at

Ferney. At Geneva he acted as mentor to

Stephen Fox, the profligate eldest son of Lord Holland and was soon admired by

expected to renegotiate a major trading agreement with Russia. What he lacked in

experience he compensated for in ability and ambition and within the year he had

successfully renegotiated the treaty. He

overstepped his authority, however, by signing the treaty himself thereby infuriat-

ing his superiors in London and later had a scandalous affair with a lady-in-waiting at court, so incurring the displeasure of the

Empress Catherine. As a result of changing political forces at home Macartney was recalled with little thanks or appreciation for his considerable success.

This portrait can, therefore, be consid- ered a souvenir of Macartney s mission to Russia. It was executed by Gustaf Lundberg in Stockholm in June 1 767, where he

spent three weeks on his return journey to London. Lundberg was the leading Swedish portraitist of the age and had trained in Paris at the Académie Royale under Largillière and Rigaud.The work shows a highly assured young man dressed as he would have appeared at court, with

heavily powdered hair and wearing the sky blue sash and golden badge of the Order

Ulster Museum holds a very fine collection of works on paper, including a small number of pastels.

Due to their fragility and sensitivity to

light, pastel portraits are rarely displayed yet are amongst the most arresting and intimate works to survive from the 1 8th

century. I have chosen this portrait of

George, 1st Earl Macartney as it is an early and relatively unknown image of one of the most respected diplomatic figures of his generation. Macartney s career began when, aged twenty-seven, he was

appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the

Empress Catherine of Russia. He

U4 IRISH ARTS REVIEW I SPRING 2011

the family for exerting a positive and

restraining influence. Lord Holland recog- nised in Macartney a young man of great ability and it was largely through his influ- ence and support that Macartney received the appointment to the court of Catherine the Great in May 1 764.

At only twenty-seven Macartney was

extremely young to be entrusted with the mission to St Petersburg where he was

AT ONLY TWENTY-SEVEN MACARTNEY WAS EXTREMELY YOUNG TO BE ENTRUSTED WITH THE MISSION TO ST PETERSBURG WHERE HE WAS EXPECTED TO RENEGOTIATE A MAJOR TRADING AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA.

of the White Eagle. Macartney had been awarded the highest order of Polish

Chivalry by King Stanislas II in June 1 766 in recognition, it seems, for his support of a policy of conciliation within Poland.!

The Macartney portrait will be included in Art of the Enlightenment, Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth

Century Works on Paper' Ulster Museum, Belfast 20 May - 20 November 201 1

Ann« Stewart is Curator of Fine Art, National Museums Northern Ireland.

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