Lot 7: Carlo Pellegrini 'Ape' (Italian, 1839-1889)

The Earl of Clarendon
Politician
signed 'Pellegrini' (lower left) and 'Ape' (lower right), with crown (upper right)
pencil and watercolour heightened with white
12 x 7 in. (30.5 x 17.8 cm.)

Thomas Gibson Bowles.
Original Drawings for Vanity Fair; Christie's, London, 5 - 8 March 1912, lot 150 (2 gns. to Picard).
Keith Mackenzie.

P O L I T I C I A N S

George William Frederick Villiers (1800-1870), 4th Earl of Clarendon, Politician, was born in London and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. Lord Clarendon's political career spanned nearly five decades having entered diplomacy as an unpaid Attaché at St. Petersburg where he stayed from 1820-1823. However, the need to clear family debts incurred by his father led him to seek a more lucrative career. He was raised to a Commissionership of Customs which, over the course of ten years (1824-33), provided him with financial security for life. In August 1833, Palmerston appointed Villiers Ambassador to Spain and he is known to have enjoyed living abroad, once saying, 'the learning of languages is the only thing I have a turn for'. He was popular in Spanish society and respected by his colleagues. In 1838, he succeeded his uncle as the 4th Earl of Clarendon with extensive properties in Hertfordshire and Warwickshire. A year later, he married Lady Catherine Barham (d.1874). In 1840, with the support of his friend, the diarist, Charles Greville, Clarendon secured a seat in the cabinet as Lord Privy Seal. Clarendon followed Lord Bessborough as Viceroy of Ireland in May 1847. The most important issue to occupy his five-year post as Viceroy was, naturally, the Great Famine. Despite his remonstrations and efforts to extract additional funds for aid, Clarendon came up against the impenetrable doctrine of Sir Charles Trevelyan and his efforts were met with only limited success. When Clarendon returned to England in 1852, he was appointed to the Foreign Office. Between 1852-1870, Clarendon was believed to have had a significant influence on Napoleon III; he also endeavoured to secure a degree of Franco-Prussian disarmament. Bismarck (see lot 2) later remarked that 'had he lived, Clarendon might have averted the Franco-Prussian War', which broke out only months after his sudden death in June 1870.

Lord Clarendon is not smitten by an insatiable desire of writing; he can upon occasion delegate important functions to purely outside writers; he can, moreover, forego writing altogether, even when to some it might seem necessary.

Vanity Fair, 'Statesmen', No. 12, 1869.

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