Sir George Osborne Morgan (1826–1897), QC, MP 1882
Edgar Wilkins Hanley (1855–1886) (attributed to)
STORIEL
This painter was the son of a wealthy north London family. His father Sylvanus Hanley (1819–1899) was a barrister and notable shell collector/expert who was resident at 27 Hanley Road in Holloway at the time of his son’s death in 1886. His mother was Caroline Wilkins (1826–1872), Sylvanus’s first wife. They had married in about 1853 and Edgar was her only son, born in 1855. They were then living in Kildare Terrace, Paddington, and he was baptised there. Hanley was an RA Schools probationer in July 1875, a fully fledged Schools student by January 1876 and in 1877 won a silver medal there for a Drawing of a Head from the Life: the Illustrated London News reported its presentation to him by Sir Francis Grant, PRA. Hanley exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1878 to 1883 and at Royal Society of British Artists shows, 1878–1881.
Hanley’s first RA submissions from 1878 were from his family home (by then 27 Hanley Road). In 1880–1881 he was at 1 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square, sharing lodgings with the artist William Hatherell (1855–1928); the portrait painter Thomas Gullick also lived there from 1882 to 1893. Hanley’s last RA exhibiting address in 1882 and 1883 was 54 Devonshire Terrace but it may not have been where he was living. Published reports, including some images of his portraits, suggest his general style was a frontal presentation of the sitter with a viewpoint from slightly below the figure, combined with strong lighting against a flat background, and several of his female examples were reproduced as sentimental postcards published by William Axon Mansell in about 1881.
From 1883 Hanley’s mental health deteriorated. His last two years were spent largely bedridden and under suicide watch. He obtained a revolver by mail order and on 18th October 1886 shot himself in the abdomen and was dead when a doctor arrived. A subsequent inquest at the St Pancras coroner’s court (see Islington Gazette, 25th October 1886) returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. At the time he was still living, under medical attendance, at 1 Fitzroy Street. While he may have returned there from the 54 Devonshire Terrace submission address listed by Graves, a legal notice in The Times, asking for any creditors to come forward, names his executor as Joseph Watson, a builder living at 54 Devonshire Street, Portland Place. The same house numbers may be coincidental but, given the artist’s growing illness, perhaps the greater probability is a street confusion in the RA listings and that Watson – either a responsible friend or perhaps even his landlord – lent practical aid in submitting his final works.
Summarised from Art UK's Art Detective discussion ‘Who painted this portrait of Sir George Osborne Morgan?'
Text source: Art Detective
