Robert Jenkinson (1770–1828), 2nd Earl of Liverpool

The 2nd Earl of Liverpool served as Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827—the longest continuous premiership of the nineteenth century. Since Liverpool died in 1828 and this portrait dates to around 1832, Hayter was working from earlier likenesses or posthumous sources. The painting at Weston Park joins the Bridgeman family’s collection of political portraits documenting the governing class of Georgian and early Victorian Britain. George Hayter was the preeminent British history and portrait painter of the early Victorian era, appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in 1841.

The posthumous portrait maintains Hayter’s characteristic precision in facial features while the overall composition follows established conventions for depicting prime ministerial dignity.