The Reverend Septimus C. H. Hansard (1823–1895)

Lowes Cato Dickinson's portrait of the Reverend Septimus C.H. Hansard commemorates a notable Victorian clergyman — Hansard was the son of the parliamentary printer Luke Hansard, whose name became synonymous with the official record of parliamentary debates. A Victorian clergyman's portrait for a major London institution was a conventional but significant commission: it recorded an individual life of service while contributing to the visual memory of the institution. Dickinson was primarily known as a portraitist and was associated with working-class and liberal causes, making a socially progressive clergyman a congenial subject.

Victorian clerical portraiture favored dark dress, composed bearing, and attention to the face as the site of moral character. Dickinson renders the elderly clergyman with thoughtful attention to physiognomy: the marks of age, the expression of a life committed to ministry. The handling is competent and respectful.