Civic Portraits
The last time I was in Camden Town Hall I was impressed by the way in which the ‘Mayor’s portrait’ had been done. Many councils have a corridor of Mayor or Chair’s portraits, painted or photographed, in chronological order, often showing the evolving face (literally) of the Mayoralty. Camden have taken an unusual approach to this and have the portraits of the Mayor etched in glass on the window panels along the ‘civic corridor’.
This got me thinking – what was the purpose of these portraits, what can civic portraits tell us about the people who became Mayor and what does it tell us about the council itself?
In this article I suggest thought should be given to the ‘content’ of civic portraits and argue that they should be less ‘pictorial’ and more ‘representational’ of the corporation and contemporary issues.
We all know about the ancient civic insignia (maces, swords, chains, badges, cups, and hats of maintenance etc.) proudly displayed in Town Halls up and down the country. Such insignia provided continuity with civic traditions and local political institutions over time, and because they often bear the emblems of the town or city they served to bind generations of people together in a collective history.
Much civic insignia remains from pre-reformation times. Not so the ‘civic portrait’ which did not emerge widely until towards the end of the 16th century. However, civic portraits came to fulfil a similar role to that of insignia – a way of binding collective memory of political institutions and civic pride. Sure, there had been portraits of famous and noble men (always men…) who held civic office but these were, on the whole, not seen as ‘civic portraits’.
Portraits of the aristocracy were often intended to enhance the personal standing of the sitter, and often depicted the subject in opulent clothing and surroundings to ensure the viewer saw the subject as he wanted to be seen – a ‘self-fashioning’ by the sitter. Such portraits were often commissioned by the subject themselves or their families. Civic portraits, on the other hand, were often commissioned by a different sort of person and for a different reason. Rather than being a form of personal ‘self- fashioning’, civic portraits were a form of ‘civic-refashioning’ – portraits designed to portray the town or city’s gravitas. Unlike early aristocratic portraits, civic portraits were usually from the waist up and the backgrounds were plainer – not the sweeping landscapes or symbols of wealth but more of civic livery and insignia. Whilst most civic portraits were painted from life or shortly after the Mayor’s passing some were painted about 60 years after their death.
The fact that some portraits were painted long after the sitter’s death point to the explanation that the portraits are more about celebrating the civic heritage than they were about the individual who held office. Such civic portraits focus on civic chains, scrolled charters and civic mottos rather than previous aristocratic portraits which showed personal possessions and family mottos.
If civic insignia and civic portraits were used to bind a town’s collective memory when many records of people and traditions had disappeared as a result of the Reformation, it is, largely, after the Reformation that lists of Mayors became a common record. Such lists served to authenticate the importance of the Mayor’s office and the longer the list, the more legitimate the civic office appeared.
So, we see that civic insignia, civic portraits and Mayoral lists were all used to promote the tradition of the council and its legitimacy to the citizens by the mid-16th century.
But what of today’s civic portraits? To start with, I should note that most of the portraits are photographs rather than paintings. Whilst this article is in no way an academic study of modern portraits, from years spent in numerous ‘civic corridors’ I would argue that today’s portraits are focussed on the individual rather than the ‘civic’ pride. Today’s portraits are usually in civic robes and chains etc. which emphasises continuity and legitimacy but they don’t celebrate the ‘corporation’ and its works. Nor do they show the changing cultural/political aspects of council life. Where are the backgrounds of the council’s building projects, representations of its great buildings? What does the portrait tell us about the time it was commissioned? However, what today’s portraits are good at revealing is the changing face of the mayoralty – the first female Mayor, the first black or Asian mayor etc.
Some councils, however, still commission painted portraits and these can perhaps be easily more representational rather than a ‘photo’. Belfast City Council remains the only Council in Northern Ireland to commission a portrait of its Lord Mayor annually. The tradition remains a unique marker of the political, social and artistic changes in the life of the city. Portraits here show the changing political arguments of unification both in the paintings and by the choice of painter. Some portraits have the Lord Mayor without the chains of office and one has his hands in his pockets to present a more ‘man of the people’ vibe. One Sinn Fein Mayor incorporates into the painting a picture of his mother and Bobby Sands, who died as a result of a hunger strike. Another Lord Mayor is depicted with her daughter as a tribute to working mums and was painted 100 years after women's suffrage, with the wallpaper painted purple and green, the colours of suffragettes.
Perhaps, civic photographed portraits should return to being more ‘representational’ than merely being a ‘photograph’. It would tell future generations more about the council at the time the photograph was taken?
Finally, as an aside, those of you who watch Coronation Street will be perplexed to see the mayoral portrait of the late Cllr Alf Roberts proudly displayed in the Platt’s front room. I have a good mind to write to Weatherfield Council to ask them to repossess it for their civic corridor!
Paul Millward
President, National Association of Civic Officers.
A more academic approach to some of these issues can be found at ‘Reformation, civic culture and collective memory in English provincial towns’ by Robert Tittler, Urban History, Cambridge University Press and an excellent article by Bronagh Lawson https://artuk.org/discover/stories/mayoral-portraits-at-belfast-city-hall-an-evolving-vision-of-a-changing-city
