Sir George Elliot

Sir George Elliot was a naval officer and Conservative politician who represented Roxburghshire. Hayter’s 1834 portrait, now in the National Portrait Gallery, was produced during the intensive period when the artist was documenting the reformed Parliament. Elliot’s combined naval and political career was typical of the military men who continued to play prominent roles in Victorian public life. 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 naval officer’s features are rendered with the crisp definition Hayter brought to his military subjects, the firm jawline and direct gaze conveying professional authority.