Rt Hon. William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898)

This second portrait of Gladstone by Millais, painted in 1890 and held at Eton College, represents a later sitting than the 1885 Christ Church portrait and shows the statesman five years older, now in his early eighties. Gladstone's long political career — he served four times as Prime Minister, his final term ending in 1894 — made him one of the most enduring presences in Victorian public life, and multiple portraits by multiple artists document the stages of his ageing. Eton College's acquisition of a Millais portrait of Gladstone reflects the school's long association with the British political elite: Gladstone himself was educated at Eton before proceeding to Oxford. The commission of a portrait for an educational institution was a different kind of transaction from a private commission — here the subject's portrait served as inspiration and model for subsequent generations of students.

The five-year interval between the Christ Church and Eton portraits allows comparison of Millais's treatment of the same sitter at different ages. The 1890 Gladstone is more obviously aged, with deeper lines and a more emphatic gravity in the face. Millais's handling is fluent and direct, recording the physical changes of age without either flattering them away or exaggerating them for dramatic effect.