Charles Turner Martin Archer Shee.

William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster.

18½ x 26¼ inches

As king of Great Britain, George III's jurisdiction extended over the Irish Sea and in the imposing figure of William Fitzgerald (1749-1804), 2nd Duke of Leinster, we meet one of the many aristocrats who held power in the Irish House of Commons. As a landowner of 60,000 acres and an active liberal politician he still found the time to father 9 children with his wife Olivia St. George but this pales by comparison with his parents, the first duke and his wife Lady Emily Lennox, who sired 19 children in just 25 years. The progeny of both dukes reminds us that the lot of many aristocratic wives during the Georgian period was to spend much of your time either pregnant or attempting to conceive. Here we see the duke, away from the bedroom, resting his hands upon a parchment and surrounded by books; all reminding us that he founded the Royal Irish Society in 1785 and was a great advocate of learning and political discourse.