This portrait of Cardinal Manning is a study for part of the decoration of the Central Criminal Court. Its medium is encaustic on canvas, a technique involving pigments mixed with hot wax. There was an increased interest in methods of mural painting at the time this work was acquired in 1923.
Henry Edward Manning was an important religious figure in Britain in the latter half of the nineteenth century. As the Archbishop of Westminster and cardinal, he was a populist and reformer who believed that the fate of the Catholic Church lay no longer with the ruling classes but the common people. It was Cardinal Manning's purchase of a suitable site which enabled his successor, Cardinal Vaughan, to commission the design and construction of Westminster Cathedral.
