English: Portrait of the Right Honourable William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), three-quarter-length, in a black coat, standing before a column and gold brocade drape.

The present portrait is one of various versions by Hoppner of Pitt the Younger. The original is considered to be that commissioned by Lord Mulgrave in 1804 and which is now at Cowdray Park. The original portrait was still in the artist’s studio two years later when Pitt died and applications for copies were immediately submitted by Pitt’s friends and colleagues.

The provenance of the Marquesses of Londonderry is of particular note, given that Robert Stewart, first Marquess of Londonderry, was elevated to the peerage by Pitt as Baron Londonderry in 1789. He was later created Viscount Castlereagh on 1 October 1795, Earl of Londonderry on 8 August 1796, and later Marquess of Londonderry after Pitt’s death. Lord Castlereagh played an important role throughout Pitt’s attempts to reform the Irish Parliament and to bring about greater unity between Westminster and Dublin.