Royal Gallery: Daniel Maclise Paintings

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Chairman of Committees]

Well, this is a new experience for me. It is true that many artists are not valued until they are long dead. Maclise deserves great credit because he had to research the water-glass method that had been developed in Germany but had never been used here. He wanted to make sure that it was possible to convey not just the drama of war but the complexity and the tensions. To do that, he had to paint bit by bit. That was where the water glass came in, because it was able to preserve the paintings. On the rest of the noble Lord’s question, I hope he will excuse me if I pass.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, is the Chairman of Committees aware that I hosted a dinner in the Peers’ Dining Room for Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge—my college—which was founded in 1596, and that the oldest painting in Parliament is the one of Queen Elizabeth which is located in that Room and was painted in 1596? Is that painting being preserved well enough?

[The Chairman of Committees]

Oh, my goodness me. I think that I will do some homework—I hope the noble Lord will allow me a little time to do that. I will then write to him, and I will put a copy of the letter in the Library.