Print, with facsimile signatures of the sitters shown in the lower margin. The original painting by Stephen Pearce, dated 1851, is in the National Portrait Gallery and was painted for Colonel John Barrow - son of Sir John Barrow - to commemorate the early attempts to find Franklin and those involved in this as advisors. They did not however meet formally as a committee, generally helped individually, and no organisation called 'The Arctic Council' existed at the time with that or any other purpose. Pearce did individual studies of eight of those shown, also now in the NPG, and the finished picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853 under the title given above. The present engraving was also published by Graves and Co. in that year. Those shown, from left to right, are: 1, Sir George Back (1796-1887); 2, Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855); 3, Edward Joseph Bird (1799-1881), all three of whom are in naval captain's full-dress uniform. 4, Sir James Clark Ross (1800-62) for whom see also BHC2979; 5, Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) for whom see also BHC2541; 6, John Barrow (1808-98); the donor of the original portrait to the NPG, by bequest, in 1899; 7. Sir Edward Sabine (1788-1883); in the full-dress uniform of a colonel of the Royal Artillery. 8, William Baillie Hamilton (1803-81). 9, Sir John Richardson (1787-1865); in the full-dress uniform of a naval staff surgeon with the CB. 10, Frederick William Beechey (1796-1856); in the full-dress uniform of a naval captain, with the Naval General Service Medal. In the background are represented portraits of Sir John Franklin (possibly the painting by Pearce, after a drawing by Negelen, in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge), Captain James FitzJames, Franklin's second-in-command (artist and location unknown), and Sir John Barrow (painting by J. Lucas, of which several versions exist). Note that this description is based on that of Richard Ormond's NPG 'Early Victorian Portraits' catalogue of 1973.