Henry Edward Manning
- Artist: George Frederic Watts
- Date: 1882
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 35 1/2 in. x 27 1/2 in. (902 mm x 699 mm)
- Portrays: Henry Edward Manning
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In front of you is George Frederic Watts’ oil portrait from 1882, showing Cardinal‑Archbishop Henry Edward Manning seated in a high-backed chair. The painter borrowed the grandeur of Renaissance papal portraits, using deep brushwork to give the cardinal dramatic intensity. Notice his profile turned slightly toward the viewer and that striking red hue on his cheeks – a detail the sitter complained was too flush for him. By 1882 Manning had become one of the few leading Victorian clerics who embraced Catholicism after feeling the Anglican Church had lost its direction.
See it in person
Henry Edward Manning is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
