Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford De Redcliffe (1786-1880) diplomat

Location

Country: Turkey
City: Istanbul
Place: British Consulate-General

Stratford Canning held several diplomatic posts in Turkey over the course of his long career. In 1808 he joined Robert Adair on his mission to Constantinople, which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of the Dardanelles in January 1809. When Adair left Constantinople the next year, Canning remained as minister-plenipotentiary and went on to help negotiate the Treaty of Bucharest between Turkey and Russia in 1812. Following postings in Vienna, Washington, and St Petersburg, Canning was appointed ambassador to Constantinople by his cousin George Canning, then Foreign Secretary, in 1825. In the aftermath of the Battle of Navarino in 1827, he returned to London, but was sent back to Constantinople by Lord Palmerston in 1831 on a special mission. He accepted the Earl of Aberdeen’s offer of the embassy at Constantinople a second time in 1841. He returned to Britain in 1852 and was made a viscount, but was sent back to Turkey in 1853 during the burgeoning crisis that matured into the Crimean War, and remained there until 1857. Canning was awarded the Order of the Garter in 1869.

Joseph Edgar Boehm was born in Vienna; the son of a medallist, engraver and director of the imperial mint. He attended Leigh’s Art Academy, London (1848-51), before returning to Vienna to study medal design and modelling. From 1859 he lived in Paris. In 1862 he moved to London, eventually settling at The Avenue, Fulham Road, where studio assistants included Gilbert and Drury. His works are mostly marble busts, but he also produced church monuments and equestrian statuettes. He received over 40 royal commissions, taught Princess Louise, was the Queen’s Sculptor-in-Ordinary from 1880 and was made a baronet in 1889. He became a Royal Academician in 1881. Boehm died aged 56. Princess Louise’s presence at his death provoked considerable gossip.

People

Stratford, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe Canning (1786 - 1880)

Places

Subjects

male portrait, man, 19th century costume, Order of the Garter, Order of the Bath, Privy Counsellor, Ambassador to Constantinople, diplomat

Materials & Techniques

marble, bust (as object name), marble bust

Artist

Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834 - 1890)

Title

Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford De Redcliffe (1786-1880) diplomat

Date

1864

Medium

Marble bust

Dimensions

height: 62.00 cm, width: 35.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from A G Walker, 1935

Inscription

Ins & D on base

Provenance

from the collection of the Marquess of Zetland PC, 19 Arlington Street, London W1; purchased from A G Walker Co., 1935

GAC number

0/53