Sir George Hayter, 
British 1792-1871- 
Portrait of Charles Elphinstone Fleming in profile,...

Sir George Hayter, 
British 1792-1871- 

Portrait of Charles Elphinstone Fleming in profile, preparatory sketch for 'The House of Commons'; 

oil on board, bears label for Winsor & Newton, Rathbone Place, verso, 35.5 x 30.3 cm. 

Provenance: 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
Son of the 11th Lord Elphinstone, Charles Elphinstone Fleming, also spelt Fleeming, (1774-1840) entered the Navy as a young man, and by the age of 20 had reached the rank of Commander. Fleming served in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and subsequently entered politics. He was elected a member of Parliament for the constituency of Stirlingshire on 13 January 1802. 

This present work is likely a study for Sir George Hayter’s expansive oil The House of Commons, 1833, which is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery [NPG 54]. Hayter depicts the first meeting of the House of Commons following the 1832 Great Reform Act and the subsequent general election that produced a landslide majority for the Whig Government. The picture includes nearly four hundred identifiable figures, most of which are MPs, like Charles Elphinstone Fleming. A number of other head studies for sitters in this group portrait are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, such as one of Charles Wood [NPG 5580], Sir Robert Harry Inglis [NPG 4968], and Sir George Elliot [NPG 2511]. 

As Principal Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, Hayter was best known for his portraits and large works of important royal events. He did not receive an official commission to paint the House of Commons, but was a staunch supporter of the reform movement, and many of his patrons were prominent Whig politicians and aristocrats. In Hayter’s finished work Fleming is positioned on the left-hand side, towards the window, seated in the back row. His profile matches that of this sketch. Fleming died in 1842 as an Admiral of the Blue.