Portrait of The Right Honourable Lord Ashburton [Alexander Baring], 1838

A mezzotint of the Right Honourable Lord Asburton, Alexander Baring (1747-1848), apparently misidentified as Francis Baring. Engraved by R. A. Artlett after a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and published by the Proprietors R. Ryley & Co., 8 Regent Street; J. Fraser, 215 Regent Street, and F. G. Moon, Threadneedle Street, 1838.

An octagonal black and white portrait of a white male in his forties with ear-length dark hair. He stands with his body posed to the right of the frame but his head looking straight on. He wears a dark frock coat with white shirt, his right hand placed within his trouser pocket and the left placed on top of a document resting on a table. A large pillar is to the right of the frame behind which there is a sweeping curtain and a hint of sky to the left. Small text directly underneath the image reads ‘Painted by Sir T Lawrence. Engraved by R. A. Artlett,' and beneath in larger italic scroll: ‘The Right Honourable Francis Lord Ashburton’. Below this, smaller text reads: ‘Pub’d 1838 by the Proprietors R. Ryley & Co. 8, Regent St also by J. Fraser 215, Regent St F. G. Moon, Threadneedle St.’

Lord Alexander Baring Ashburton (1774-1848) was born 27 October to Sir Francis Baring (to whom the portrait is misattributed) whose own father had settled in Exeter after emigrating from Germany. The family began a London and Exeter-based merchant company, which Alexander joined, becoming a partner in 1807. Alongside his financial successes, he was also involved in politics and sat in Parliament for Taunton, Callington (Cornwall), Thetford and North Essex. From 1805 to 1817, he was director of the Bank of England, and later became Master of the Mint for Robert Peel’s government, a post which saw him gifted the title of Baron Ashburton, Devon. He was also a Privy Councillor and trustee of the British Museum and of the National Gallery, and had several speeches published throughout his life.

Baring’s links to slavery begin with his father, who first made profit from the slave trade at the age of sixteen. The family firm was heavily involved in the trade, and Alexander was a member of the Board of Trade and Plantations. He made a number of speeches in parliament on the subject, repeatedly opposing the abolition of slavery, maintaining “the impression that the condition of such people as one of ‘cruelty and abomination’ was wrong.” When slavery was finally abolished in the 1830s, Baring received compensation for almost 500 enslaved people across four estates.

The original artist of this depiction, Sir Thomas Lawrence, has connections with Bristol and Bath, while the engraver, Richard Austin Artlett, was an engraver on steel, usually working from sculpture.The portrait was included as an illustration in a book published by R. Ryley called Eminent Conservative Statesmen.

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