William Lamb, Lord Melbourne, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Robert Southey, portrait
Summary
This painting is one of three portraits of William Lamb (1789–1848), Lord Melbourne, held in the Art and Heritage Collection. Lamb was the Whig prime minister of England at the time Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, and he became the inexperienced young queen’s close friend and chief political advisor. Queen Victoria made him the namesake of our city in the year of her ascension, shortly after European settlers from Van Diemen’s Land began making the Port Phillip District their new home.
The oil on canvas shows its subject as a young man, Lamb being just 36 when he sat for the portrait in 1825, nine years before becoming prime minister, very briefly, in the first of his two appointments. The artist of the painting is unknown, but the work bears the inscription ‘Circle of Sir Robert Lawrence (1769–1830)’. Certainly, it demonstrates some of the hallmarks of the British portraitist’s style, with the young Lamb’s illuminated face gazing assuredly out from a deeply toned, receding background.
The painting was presented to the City of Melbourne by Lady Southey on 2 March 1999, partly in memory of her politician–businessman husband, Sir Robert Southey (1922–98), and recognising his support for the arts in Melbourne. It was also donated to mark the terms of office of two Melbourne councillors, Carrillo Gantner and Ivan Deveson (lord mayor from 1996 to 1999).
