Henry Richard Fox (later Vassall), 3rd Baron Holland

Henry Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, was the leading Whig grandee of the early nineteenth century, whose Holland House salon in Kensington was the intellectual headquarters of the reform movement. Hayter painted him in 1820 for what is now the National Portrait Gallery. Holland’s championship of liberal causes, from Catholic emancipation to parliamentary reform, made him a pivotal figure, though chronic illness kept him from the highest offices. 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.

Hayter captures the Whig nobleman with intellectual warmth, the face animated by the lively intelligence for which Holland was celebrated. The informal pose suggests the conversational ease of the Holland House salon.