Phillip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694-1773), fourth earl of Chesterfield, was made Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter in 1730. This portrait bust shows him wearing the Order's ribbon and motto. Chesterfield completed a diplomatic mission in The Hague in 1745, after which he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Secretary of State for the Northern Department. Retiring in 1752, Chesterfield is best known for his letters to his son and godson, both called Philip Stanhope, which contain accounts of the civil and political life of the times. Chesterfield commissioned this bust from the sculptor Joseph Wilton (1722-1803). Wilton trained in continental Europe, returning to London in 1755. He was appointed Keeper of the Duke of Richmond's Academy for young artists, was one of the founder members of the Royal Academy, and became its Keeper in 1780.The portrait is both idealistic and realistic in style. Depicted without a wig, the sitter is not dressed in the classical manner, but the strong features and heroic manner do follow the antique tradition. The composition of this portrait bust, with waisted socle, coat-of-arms, motto and garter was greatly popular with Chesterfield, and used on other busts of the sitter by Roubiliac

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Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield KG PC (22 September 1694 – 24 March 1773) was a British statesman, and a man of letters, and wit. He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, and Lady Elizabeth Savile, and known as Lord Stanhope until the death of his father, in 1726. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour of the Continent, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to become acquainted with his aristocratic counterparts and the polite society of Continental Europe.

In the course of his post-graduate tour of Europe, the death of Queen Anne (r. 1702–1707) and the accession of King George I (r. 1714–1727) opened a political career for Stanhope, and he returned to England. In the British political spectrum he was a Whig and entered government service, as a courtier to the King, through the mentorship of his relative, James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, the King's favourite minister, who procured his appointment as Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales.