Henry Peter Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux

Phillips's portrait of Henry Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux documents one of the most turbulent political figures of the early Victorian period—the reforming Lord Chancellor whose brilliant legal career, tireless campaigning for educational reform and popular rights, and flamboyant personal style made him simultaneously one of the most admired and most controversial figures in public life. Brougham's championship of Queen Caroline, his founding of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and his role in drafting the Great Reform Act gave him a claim to be the most important reformist politician of the 1820s and 1830s before his erratic behavior and personal feuds diminished his influence.

Phillips captures Brougham's famous energy and intellectual force through the intensity of his expression. The parliamentary portrait follows institutional conventions while conveying something of the restless dynamism that characterized Brougham's public career. The handling is professional, appropriate to the parliamentary collection.