Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, painted by Lawrence around 1812 and at the National Portrait Gallery, was the half-brother of Lord Castlereagh — Foreign Secretary and the principal British architect of the Congress of Vienna settlement — and one of the most colorful military figures of the Peninsular War. Where Castlereagh was cerebral, calculating, and politically brilliant, Stewart was flamboyant, hot-tempered, and physically courageous to the point of recklessness, serving as Adjutant-General to Wellington's army in the Peninsula with a personal bravery that earned admiration alongside the professional frustration that his impulsive behavior sometimes caused. His subsequent career as ambassador to Vienna, where he presided over one of the most elaborate salons in Europe, combined genuine diplomatic intelligence with the personal extravagance that made him both celebrated and occasionally ridiculous. Lawrence's portrait captures the cavalryman's energy with the bravura brushwork that was itself a kind of painterly equivalent to Stewart's physical dash — the composition dynamic, the military dress rendered with theatrical force, the whole effect suggesting a man for whom the boundaries of acceptable behavior were perpetually negotiable.

Lawrence captures the cavalryman's dashing personality with characteristic verve, using dynamic composition and warm palette. The military uniform and decorations are rendered with fluid precision that conveys both splendor and martial energy.