The ''Duke of Richelieu'' is an 1818

portrait painting Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

by the British artist Sir

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English people, English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was a ...

of the French

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Armand Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu. Richelieu was a leading statesman in Restoration France serving twice as premiere during the reign of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

, having previously spent many years in exile. It was painted during the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. Lawrence was the preeminent portrait painter of Regency Britain. He was commissioned by the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

to travel to Aix-la-Chapelle to paint European leaders gathered there. Since

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's final defeat at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

, France had been subjected to Allied Occupation under the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

. At the Congress Richelieu accomplished his goal of securing the withdrawal of Allied troops in exchange for the payment of outstanding reparations. He also signed the Quintuple Alliance allowing France to become the fifth member of the post-war alliance of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Britain,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, part of the wider

Concert of Europe The Concert of Europe was a general agreement among the great powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying ...

. The portrait shows the Duke in fashionable civilian dress holding a sheath of papers that suggest at his administrative duties. Depicted in the romantic style of the era, he is shown against a

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

y background staring into the distance wearing "an expression of determination and weariness. but also of hope". When Lawrence was invited to exhibit work at the

Salon of 1824 The Salon of 1824 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris between 25 August 1824 and 15 January 1825. It took place during the Second Bourbon Restoration, Restoration Era that followed the downfall of Napoleon's First French Empire, Fre ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

he submitted a smaller version of the painting. The original is now part of the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

and hangs in the Waterloo Chamber of

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

along with other leading figures involved in the defeat of Napoleon and the postwar diplomatic congresses.https://www.rct.uk/collection/404949/armand-emmanuel-duke-of-richelieu-1766-1822#:~:text=Description,to%20employ%20him%20in%20earnest.

References

Bibliography

* Cox, Cynthia. ''Talleyrand's Successor: Armand-Emmanuel Du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu. 1766-1822''. Vanguard Press, 1959. * De Graaf, Beatrice. ''Fighting Terror after Napoleon: How Europe Became Secure after 1815''. Cambridge University Press, 2020. * Haynes, Christine. ''Our Friends the Enemies. The Occupation of France after Napoleon''. Harvard University Press, 2018. * Noon, Patrick & Bann, Stephen. ''Constable to Delacroix: British Art and the French Romantics''. Tate, 2003. * Levey, Michael. ''Sir Thomas Lawrence''. Yale University Press, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of the Duke of Richelieu 1818 paintings Paintings by Thomas Lawrence Paintings in Windsor Castle Portrait paintings of prime ministers of France 19th-century portraits Portraits of men