The Victorians Introduction: Queen Victoria · PDF fileThe Victorians Introduction: Queen Victoria Under the robe she wears a low-cut white dress like a wedding dress, transparent

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Introduction: Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria 1819 – 1901

By Sir George Hayter (1792 – 1871)Oil on canvas, 1863112 1/2 x 70 1/2 in. (285.8 x 179 cm)

Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) reigned from 1837until 1901. Victoria was the daughter of the Duke ofKent and granddaughter of George III. Succeedingto the throne in 1837, she influenced foreign anddomestic policies of successive governments, andher reign was the longest in British history.

Queen Victoria came to the throne at the age ofeighteen on the death of her uncle, William IV, in1837 and was crowned queen on 28 June 1838.She wrote in her journal on the day of hercoronation: ‘I really cannot say how proud I feel tobe the Queen of such a Nation’, and some of thisidealism is conveyed in Sir George Hayter'scoronation portrait.

Victoria described a small version of this portrait,which Hayter painted for her private apartments, as‘excessively like and beautifully painted’. Thisreplica version was commissioned by QueenVictoria in 1863 from the artist who painted theoriginal in 1838. It was given to the National Portrait

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Gallery in 1900. Other versions were produced forEnglish embassies, another was given to the CrownPrincess of Russia, and there is one in theLiverpool Town Hall.

Under a huge canopy of vermilion red curtainsheavily decorated with gold fringes and tassles, thedelicate young Queen Victoria sits high on hermassive throne. The armrests are carved in theform of large lion heads. Behind her a subdued redbackground shows a unicorn and a lion. Lifting thestem of the ceremonial Sceptre with the cross inher right hand, she points it in the direction followedby her own gaze up into the light shining fromabove to her right. The softly rounded face of theyoung Queen, with its long slender nose androsebud lips, has a resolute expression. Her finedark eyebrows are horizontal. On her head reststhe Imperial State Crown. The crosses on top of thesceptre and crown symbolise the Sovereign’stemporal power under the Cross. Her heavy redand golden coronation robes are clasped acrossher chest by a band of gold. They spread over thelion-head armrests and trail onto the floor besidethe throne.


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Under the robe she wears a low-cut white dress likea wedding dress, transparent and layered. It is heldin at the waist with a golden sash. Her satin whiteslippers are visible through the thin fabric of herlong dress. They rest on a wide flat gold cushionfootrest in front of the throne. At its two front cornersthe footrest has large fabric red rose bloomssupported by ferocious looking lion paws.




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Prince Albert, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria1819 – 61

By Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805 – 73)Oil on canvas, 186795 x 61 3/4 in. (241.3 x 156.8 cm)

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consortof Queen Victoria (1819 – 61) was the second sonof Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Albertmarried his cousin, Queen Victoria in 1840, andplayed an influential role in British public life. Notedas a patron of the arts, Prince Albert was largelyresponsible for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Theoriginal version of this portrait, showing Prince Albertwearing the Star of the Garter and the uniform of theRifle Brigade, was one of the last portraits to bepainted of him before his death from typhoid at theage of forty-two in 1861. This replica wascommissioned by Queen Victoria from the originalartist for the National Portrait Gallery.

Prince Albert is forty years old in this portrait.Brightly lit in the foreground of a palace interior andstanding tall, he thrusts out his chest in acommanding pose. Prince Albert wears the charcoalgrey uniform of the Rifle Brigade with a black swordbelt. His trousers are worn over black riding boots of

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which only the toes and the spurs are visible. Hestands in left profile and turns his face to engageyou with the clear and gentle expression of largeeyes which are light grey-green. He has a veryslender long straight nose in a large egg-shapedface with a strong clean-shaven chin. His top lip ishidden by a light brown centrally parted thickmoustache. His face is framed by long sideburnsand soft light-brown hair which is carefully curledforwards above his ears. Parted low on the left, longhair is brushed over the receding hairline of his highrounded forehead. The bright shape of his facestands out from the tall collar of his dark jacket. Onhis chest Prince Albert proudly wears the Star of theGarter over his heart. His full rounded chest andnarrow waist convey energy and strength. Albert’sleft elbow is held out wide to rest his hand on thehilt of a long sword standing at his side. The thumbof his right hand is hooked lightly on his belt at thewaist. At the right hand edge of the picture besidehim, a small table is loaded with plans and folderscontaining his projects.

Behind him, on his left, stands a vast column,swathed with red fabric. Huge crimson and whiteregal robes, the robes of the Bath, which symbolise


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his purification to become a knight, are heaped upagainst the column and slope down behind Albertonto the floor at the other side. On the robes liethe chain and star of the order of the Bath and afield-marshal’s baton.




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Expansion and Empire

The Mission of Mercy: Florence NightingaleReceiving the Wounded at Scutari

By Jerry Barrett (1824 – 1906)Oil on canvas, 185755 1/2 x 83 3/4 in. (141 x 212.7 cm)

Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) reformedhospital nursing during the 19th century. After hertraining she was invited to take nurses out to tendthe wounded in the Crimean War. Her sanitaryimprovements there diminished the spread ofdisease. She travelled to Scutari, a suburb ofConstantinople in October 1854, where shetransformed the appalling conditions at the BarrackHospital. She looked after soldiers’ wives andchildren and wounded patients christened her ‘theLady with the Lamp’. She was subsequentlyconsulted by foreign governments at war as anauthority on hospital administration and sanitation.

In this complex narrative painting, FlorenceNightingale is shown just over a third of the way intothe painting from the left edge, standing under awindow. She is surrounded by a semi-circle ofpeople including many of her supporters, receivingcasualties in the quadrangle of the Barrack Hospital.Close to us, situated in the right and left corners of

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the picture Turkish people gaze at the sceneunfolding before them. On our left with his backtowards us, a richly dressed man in a gold and redturban, red jacket and voluminous white pants orsherwal rests his right hand on a child’s shoulder.The fabric of the child’s pink skirts shimmers in thesun. Just visible on the man’s right is a figureholding some prayer beads behind his back. At theextreme right there are two veiled women in darkpurple-blue robes, the one closest to us wearspointed pale yellow boots.

At the right edge of the picture, visible through awide arched gateway stretches the River Bosphoruspainted a greyish green blending to ultramarine atits furthest bank. Beyond, the city of Constantinopleis hazy in the distance beneath the expanse of aclear blue sky. A queue of the sick and woundedclimb up from a makeshift landing stage and enterthe quadrangle. Dramatic lighting brightly illuminatesthe curve of the left edge of the gateway and theface of an infantryman raised aloft on a stretcher.He points with his right hand towards FlorenceNightingale, the red sleeve of his uniformcontrasting with the dull green of a wooden doorbehind him.


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The infantryman looks down towards a woundedsoldier slumped between an orderly and a doctor,his bold pointing gesture offering reassurance to thewounded soldier. The doctor, holding a leather bagand a metal helmet in his left hand, looks gravelyover the head of the soldier towards the orderly onthe soldier’s right. The orderly, dressed in a lightblue shirt and darker blue trousers, has asympathetic expression as he gazes at the soldier,the palm of his right hand turned upwards inencouragement. In front of this group and standingfacing to our left with his back turned towards us, an infantryman with head bowed leans on a stick,his wounded left leg bandaged below the knee witha blood soaked handkerchief. The soldier issupported round the waist by a partially obscuredmale figure on his right. The artist has paidparticular attention to the details of gold frogging onthe soldier’s open coat and the fringes catching thelight on his left epaulet. The infantryman, hiscompanion and the stretcher-bearer, form part of the group surrounding Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale herself, standing in the centreof this group, is picked out as if spot lit. Hercostume is sober; the skirt and close-fitting bodice


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of pale grey fabric with a white collar, the onlydecoration, a small broach on a velvet ribbonaround her neck. She has a pale face and her darkhair is smoothly drawn back from a centre partingunder a white lace cap.

She stretches out her right hand towards awounded soldier lying on a stretcher at her feet. Inher left hand she holds a document . As ifdistracted, she looks towards the drummer boy,Robert Robinson, who ran her errands. He is justvisible approaching the group to our left, head tiltedback as he tries to catch her attention. Thestretcher case is viewed from the side and facesour right. Propped up on his right elbow, he gazesat Nightingale, as he accepts a drink from one ofher most loyal nurses, Mrs Roberts. She kneels infront of him, wearing dark clothes. Bright sunlightglances on a green jug at the soldier’s elbow. Thesoldier is tended by Dr Cruikshanks, a medicalofficer who was resistant to Nightingale’s sanitaryimprovements. He kneels behind the soldier’s headand is dressed in a dark blue uniform.

To the doctor’s right a young Turkish man in a shortpale green jacket looks down solemnly at the


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soldier. Other portraits of Nightingale’s close alliesin the painting, include Revd Mother Mary Clare.Wearing a dark habit, the Revd Mother stands inshadow behind Dr Cruikshanks. Between her andNightingale is the tall imposing figure of MajorSillery, military commander of the hospital at thetime of Nightingale’s arrival. He has an impressivebushy moustache, waxed at the ends. To theimmediate left of Nightingale stands SelinaBracebridge, her expression calmly solicitous,clutching her right hand to her breast.

She and her husband, who is situated behind her,were old friends of Nightingale, offering assistanceduring her first nine months in Scutari. MrBracebridge is depicted in conversation with LordWilliam Paulet, commander of British forces in theBosphorus. He is partly obscured by the stretcher-bearer to his left.

In a dark doorway at the extreme left of thepainting, appears the whiskered face of Paulet’ssuccessor, General Henry Storks and to his left, thehead and shoulders of Dr Linton, one of the medicalofficers at the hospital. In front of them cut off bythe edge of the picture is the portly figure of the


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great chef, Alexis Soyer, who revolutionised dietaryregimes at the Barrack hospital. He is depicted inprofile holding a sunshade. Alongside Alexis Soyer,her body obscured by the Turkish man in theforeground, a nurse, Miss Tebbut, wearing a frilledbonnet, gazes thoughtfully out of the painting.

To give authenticity to this image of life in theBarrack Hospital, the artist has included himself inthe painting as a witness. He looks down on thescene below from a window in the sun baked wallabove Nightingale’s head. In the foreground thereare discarded items of uniform and two dogs liesleeping in the heat.

Hanging on the wall to the left is a small oil study forthis painting measuring 16 x 24 in. (40.6 x 61cm).The paint is handled in a more fluid manner,providing us with an insight into the evolution of thefinished picture’s composition. The organisation ofthe figures is well developed but there aresignificant differences in the pose of Nightingaleherself and the positioning of Alexis Soyer and theothers grouped around her. In the sketch,Nightingale is turned to our right and looks out of thepainting and Alexis Soyer appears closer to her. The


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outstretched arm of the soldier being borne into thehospital, which provides a dramatic focus in thelarge painting, is not yet formulated.




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Florence Nightingale 1820 – 1910

By Sir John Robert Steell (1804 – 91)Bronze Bust, 186228 in. (71.1 cm) high

Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) reformedhospital nursing during the 19th century. She trainedas a sick nurse and was invited to take nurses out totend the wounded in the Crimean War (1854 – 6).Her sanitary reforms there lessened cases ofdiseases such as cholera, typhus and dysentery.She travelled to Scutari, a suburb of Constantinoplein October 1854, where she transformed theappalling conditions at the Barrack Hospital. Shelooked after soldiers’ wives and children andwounded patients christened her ‘the lady with thelamp’. She was subsequently consulted by foreigngovernments at war as an authority on hospitaladministration and sanitation.

This bronze bust of Florence Nightingale, mountedon a curved polished pedestal of greenish marble isdisplayed to be viewed from the front. Her head isturned to our right and angled slightly downwardsrevealing a graceful neck. The hair at the front isdrawn back from a centre parting, strands of hair

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modelled to convey texture. A soft-looking frilled capcovers the back of her head and ears. Her face isoval in shape; the light shining on the smoothbronze surface picks out hollow cheeks, a ratherprominent, pointed noise and a small rounded chin.Finely arched eyebrows, eyes with heavy lids and asmall-pursed mouth convey calm sympathy. Theartist’s scrutiny has drawn attention to tiny detailsthat make her face appear not perfectly symmetricalbut suggest the character of a real person: theoutline of her thin upper lip is more curved on herright, the eyes not exactly the same shape.

She wears a cloak, drawn across her shoulders,loosely gathered at the base of the neck andfastened tightly at the front. The sculpture finishesbelow the breasts and the diagonal folds in thecloak’s fabric describe the contours of her bodybeneath. The edge of her shoulders and upper arms form elegant curves and the upper body iscompleted in the classical manner to resemble asoftened hexagonal shape.




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By Thomas Jones Barker (1815 – 82)Oil on canvas, about 186366 x 84 1/8 in. (167.6 x 213.8 cm)

This painting epitomises the Victorian concept of theBritish Empire, which was seen as conferring thebenefits of European civilisation and Christianity inparticular on the peoples over whom it ruled.Although the depictions of Queen Victoria and herentourage are accurate, as is the setting of theaudience chamber at Windsor, no actual occasionfor the picture’s subject has been identified. It wasengraved under the title ‘The Bible: The Secret ofEngland’s Greatness’ in 1864, suggesting that it wasconceived, in part, as an allegory of Empire.

In the foreground, portrayed almost full length, theyoung Queen Victoria presents a bible to an Africanman wearing elaborate native dress. The Queen isviewed from the side, standing on a dais facing theAfrican man who kneels before her on our right.

Her pale rounded face, viewed in profile withstraight, slightly pointed nose is recognisable from

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‘The Secret of England’s Greatness’ (QueenVictoria presenting a Bible in the AudienceChamber at Windsor)

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many portraits and coins. The glossy dark brownhair is smoothed back over the ears and adornedwith a narrow gold crown, set with diamonds at thefront and a soft white feather that curls onto hershoulder. The décolletage of her costume is wide,low-cut and edged with white lace. Three strings ofpearls encircle her neck. A short, fine gauze,puffed sleeve is visible beneath an over sleeve oflace. At her breast, fastened to a blue sash is acluster of white, blue and red flowers. The train ofthe dress is of satin, decorated with bows alongthe edge, shimmering blue and mauve in the light.The wide ivory silk skirt is embellished with broad,lace ruffles, delicately patterned. She holds theleatherbound bible in front of her with both hands.

The African man leans forward, crystal necklaceswinging, reaches out with his left arm and claspsthe corner of the bible with delicacy, the right handheld back in an elegant gesture. The rich brown,muscular forearm, and that of the Queen, smoothand white, form a strong diagonal in theforeground composition. The man’s handsomeprofile with clipped beard, straight nose and highcheekbones expresses curiosity. He ismagnificently attired in a cream coloured tunic,


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sumptuous, leopard skin cloak, spotted shoulderstrap and a long red sash lined with gold tied roundthe waist, the fabric where it falls, partly concealinga sword that hangs at his left side. The cloth of histurban is pink and shiny embellished at the frontwith a stiffened plume that curves over his headand is fastened to the turban with a turquoise jewel.A hooped earring set with pearls hangs from his left ear.

Prince Albert, situated behind Victoria is lessstrongly lit. He surveys the scene, a graveexpression on his youthful face. The warm red of hisuniform sets off Victoria’s white shoulders. A sectionof green throne is visible; the armrest ornamentedwith a gold lion’s head. A cool pinkish red curtainfalls behind the armrest and frames the painting atthe left edge. In the space between the curtain andPrince Albert’s shoulder, a shadowy female figure,perhaps a lady-in-waiting peers out. At the extremeright, behind the African man, the statesman, LordPalmeston and Lord John Russell appear toexchange comments. In the background, indistinctin the darker shadows is Benjamin West’s largepainting ‘The Institution of the Order of the Garter’.




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Frederick Gustavus Burnaby 1842 – 85

By James Jacques Tissot (1836 – 1902)Oil on panel, 187019 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. (49.5 x 59.7 cm)

Burnaby (1842 – 85) was an officer of the RoyalHorse guards with a gift for languages. Over sixfeet, four inches tall, he was reputed to be thestrongest man in the British Army. It was said thathe once carried a pony under his arm. He becamerenowned for his exploits and his books. ‘A Ride toKhiva’ (1876), the narrative of a journey onhorseback across three thousand miles of theRussian Steppes in winter and ‘On HorsebackThrough Asia Minor’ (1877) both became bestsellers. In 1885, he took part in the relief expeditionto Khartoum in the Sudan, where he died from aspear wound.

Burnaby leans back comfortably in the corner of asofa with loose white covers to the left of thepicture. With his body turned towards us, heelegantly holds a cigarette away from his mouth inhis right hand. The upper arm is supported alongthe armrest of the sofa; the hand positioned halfway across the painting from the left edge.

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His head is turned towards our right and slightlytilted back, mouth open and eyebrows raised abovesmall eyes as if he is confidently recounting afascinating adventure. The dark hair, clipped short,eyebrows and moustache, waxed and twirled at theends, stand out against a very pale complexion. Hisright elbow is situated on the curved top of the sofa,the forearm angled downwards against thebackrest, fingers curled next to one of two piles ofbooks at his side. Burnaby’s long legs are crossedand stretched out so that the pointed toes of hishighly polished shoes almost reach the bottom rightcorner of the painting. He is dressed in uniform as aCaptain in the 3rd Household Cavalry. Thesweeping red stripe along the side of his blacktrousers further emphasises the length of his legs.This stripe and the gleaming white shoulder strapcurving across his chest provide strong features inthe composition.

The glossy surface of this painting with its array ofdetail and texture is striking in the bold use ofcontrasting black, white and red. Warm red on theband around a stiff cylindrical cap on the sofa in theforeground, on the cuffs of his uniform and otheritems of uniform gathered on a couch upholstered in


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flowery chintz in the background, provide richaccents in the painting. The elements in the pictureare carefully arranged; the falling red horsehairplume on a spiked gilded metal helmet on thecouch in the background emphasises the angle ofhis left forearm.

The items of uniform next to the helmet arepositioned in the space between his forearm andthe right edge of the painting. Below, light glints ona breastplate leaning against the couch behindBurnaby’s legs. This breastplate fits neatly into thepictorial space between his knees and the rightedge of the painting where a pair of long boots arejust visible.

Positioned centrally above the couch in thebackground, on pale wallpaper covered with apattern of tiny flowers, a section of a large map of the world, reminds us of Burnaby’s love ofexploration and adventure. The countries areloosely portrayed and the artist has painted small dashes to indicate the names of geographical features.




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Portraits and Politics

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour1848 – 1930

By John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925)Oil on canvas, 1908102 3/8 x 59 in. (260 x 150 cm)

Arthur James Balfour (1849 – 1930) was aConservative Prime Minister and a pivotal figure inBritish politics from the late 1880s to the late 1920s.He first made his mark as a philosopher, publishing‘A Defence of Philosophic Doubt’ in 1879 and wasthe most admired of a group of young intellectualsknown as the ‘Souls’. He entered politics assecretary to his uncle, Lord Salisbury, and in 1878served in the government of Benjamin Disraeli.During the administration of Gladstone that followedhe led the opposition in the House of Commons.When Salisbury became prime minister in 1885,Balfour became Scottish secretary and in 1887served as Chief Secretary of Ireland, gaining areputation as a resolute opponent of Home Rule. InJuly 1902 he became prime minister upon theretirement of Salisbury. The Education Act of 1902was the major legislation of his time in office. In 1904Balfour negotiated the terms of the Entente Cordiale.

However by 1905 he was unable to keep together a

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party divided by Free Trade and Protectionism andhe resigned. He worked with distinction during theFirst World War, succeeding Winston Churchill as1st Lord of the Admiralty, and from 1916 to 1917, asForeign Secretary, he was employed in enlisting thesupport of the United States. An act of far-reachingconsequences was the Balfour Declaration ofNovember 1917 that gave British support to ‘theestablishment in Palestine of a home for the Jewishpeople’. Balfour continued in active politics until theage of 80. He served an exceptional length of timeas a member of the cabinet: 27 years.

G.K.Chesterton regarded the portrait as one ofSargent’s wisest works, a summing up ‘of not justthe man but also the age’.

In this very large painting the tall figure of Balfourstands life-size at the centre against a stone walldesigned in the grand manner of classicalarchitecture. Dressed in black, he wears a whitecollar and very discreet black bow tie, blacktrousers, and shiny black shoes with grey spats. His three-quarter length black coat hangs open. The edge of a carpet runs horizontally across thepainting just behind his feet. It is patterned in blue


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and red with touches of green, against abackground of light golden brown.

He stands in front of a shallow rectangular columnwhich is about three feet or a metre wide, restinghis right arm with suave assurance along a ledgejust below shoulder height. His relaxed right hand hangs from the ledge at the extreme left of the painting.

He stands in a position which suggests that fromfirst standing alongside the wall, facing the left ofthe picture, he has now turned his upper body,twisting his spine, so that his shoulders rest againstthe ledge and his face is seen fully. He holds his lefthand on his chest directly in line beneath his face,lightly grasping the collar of his coat with thumb andforefinger. His weight is on his left foot which pointstowards his right, while his right leg crosses in frontof his left with the inner foot turned to face you. Theright foot hides the left.

Balfour’s face receives the full strength of a shaft oflight from the right of the painting that casts a boldshadow of his head onto the column just above hisright shoulder. He has receding wavy grey hair witha centre parting above his gleaming high-domed


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forehead. His level grey eyebrows shade largegrey-green eyes which look steadily into thedistance to your right. His long and straight nose isstrongly chiselled rather than smoothly formed. Awide grey moustache is centrally parted, curling upto end beyond the corners of his mouth.




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The Lobby of the House of Commons, 1886

By Liberio Prosperi ('Lib') (active 1886 – 1903)Oil on canvas, about 188613 x 19 1/4 in. (33 x 48.9 cm)

A chromolithograph after this picture was publishedin the ‘Vanity Fair Christmas Supplement’ in 1886.

Seventeen men stand in the wide Lobby of theHouse of Commons in long black jackets, trousersof sober colours and black shoes. Many wear highcollars and bow ties, and some wear black top hats.They strut, stoop, lounge or wag a finger andmurmur and mutter and gossip. There is an elementof humorous caricature to their appearances. Thegothic architecture of the Lobby of the House ofCommons resembles a Cathedral interior. On theleft of the painting elaborately carved arches andniches punctuate the limestone wall behind the men.High above their heads daylight enters fromwindows on the left whose wide stone windowframes are visible just below the top of the picture.The groups of men cast dark pools of shadow ontothe chequered tile floor. Tiles of pale blue and whiterectangles alternate with tiles of pale red and white.Between fluted columns on the right, in a high dark

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arched recess spanned by gothic niches in goldleaf, a clock hangs just above their heads.

At centre foreground, in left profile, with an over-large bald head and a residue of curly white hair,stands the elderly leader of the Liberal Party andformer Prime Minister, Gladstone, surrounded by agroup of four men. To the left of Gladstone the slightdark-haired Joseph Chamberlain uses the fingers ofhis open left hand to reinforce a point he is making.Between these two men Charles Stewart Parnell,the leader of the Irish Nationalist party, is shownstanding a little further back. Parnell is one of thetallest figures and has a high domed head, longbrown hair and full beard and moustache. No doubtthe chief concern in this area of the painting isHome Rule in Ireland over which Chamberlainresigned from Gladstone’s cabinet in 1886.

Gladstone’s decision to pursue a policy of HomeRule in 1866 had split the Liberal party to the core.Behind Gladstone stands the slight figure of LordRandolph Churchill facing to the right. A red rose isin his buttonhole, his right hand on his hip and hisleft hand in the pocket of his narrow grey trousers.Wearing a tall top hat on his high bald head he has


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brown hair, protruding small round ears, bulgingeyes and a wide triangular moustache that hidesmost of his mouth. He is talking to the taller figure ofthe Marquess of Hartington who faces Gladstone’sback. Hartington stoops and turns his right ear tohear Churchill better.

Churchill was an energetic campaigner againstGladstone over Home Rule for Ireland. Hartingtontoo was vehemently opposed to Home Rule andwith Chamberlain he founded the Liberal Unionists.Therefore there is significance in placing these twobehind Gladstone’s back in the picture. At either endof the cluster of figures and groups stand shortcomical figures with white beards resembling gardengnomes. On the left there is a portly policeman,Inspector Denning, facing you and standing toattention, and on the extreme right is the agedhooknosed Mr Hansard, the printer to the House ofCommons, with his walking stick. The second figurein at the right is the tall figure of Lord Hill with noseheld high strutting out of the picture. The secondfigure in on the left is the Clerk of the House ofCommons wearing a wig and peering with anexaggerated stoop towards the left.


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Behind the Clerk and a few feet further away thereis a group of four politicians under the high window.They are clustered around the red-haired beardedDeputy Sergeant-at-Arms, Ralph Gossett, in histight black leggings. Two figures are seen to the left of Ralph Gossett. Over the Clerk’s shoulder the head of the aged radical reformer and LiberalJohn Bright appears. He is a short man with a hugeround white beard under his top hat. In left profiletalking quietly to Bright is the tall and elderly William Harcourt.

He has smooth shiny dark grey parted hair, a heavyround nose, big grey eyebrows and sagging cheeks.Harcourt was a brilliant parliamentarian and Liberalwho acted as Gladstone’s deputy. Hook-nosedGossett is facing Charles Bradlaugh who wags hisfinger and leans towards Gossett with a jovialexpression. Bradlaugh had been at the centre ofcontroversy for holding atheist beliefs and had beenexpelled from the House of Commons, imprisonedin the Tower of London and fined for voting illegallyon three separate occasions. He had been in muchtrouble with previous Sergeants-at-Arms. Bradlaughhas a double chin and a big face, a wide down-turned mouth with thin lips, a small nose and little


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eyes. A shock of untidy grey hair behind his ears iscrammed between the rim of his top hat and hisround shoulders.

Between Gossett and Bradlaugh with hands inpockets stands Henri du Pré Labouchere. Under atop hat he narrows his eyes in amusement atBradlaugh. Labouchere has a big nose and a verylong grey beard. He was a noted wit and supporterof Gladstone opposed to imperialism. He alsopublished ‘Truth’ a magazine devoted to theexposure of social fraud.

Under the clock on the far side of the Lobby to yourright is a group of three men in the background. On the left, in profile facing right, Henry Chaplin hasbig reddish sideburns and a short top hat, a beak-like nose and a chin that juts out. A countrygentleman associated with horseracing, Chaplinsmiles broadly in laughter as he listens to a muchsmaller man opposite.

Between them, in the centre with his back to you,the lumbering figure of Sir George Leveson-Gowerclasps his hands behind his back with his legsplanted wide apart. The man on his left, Chaplin,was married to a member of the Leveson-Gower


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family.

Leveson-Gower turns his bulbous face towards theshort, very slight and very dapper figure of the 6thEarl Spencer who looks excited as he tilts his headback smiling broadly with big eyes. Spencer has along straight nose, brown hair parted on the left, afine moustache curling up at the ends, and a clean-shaven chin. He wears a high white collar above hisblack long-tailed jacket. Beneath his narrow blacktrousers his tiny pointed shoes have raised heels.These three might be discussing horses and hunting.




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Science and Technology

Ludwig Mond 1839 – 1909

By Edward (Edouard) Lanteri (1848 – 1917)Bronze statuette, no date14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)

Ludwig Mond (1839 – 1909) was a chemist,industrialist and art collector. Born in Kassel,Germany, he moved to Britain in 1867 and becameone of the foremost industrial chemists of his period.He developed the mass production of alkali for thetextile industry and later ammonia, ‘Mond gas’ andnickel. He spent part of his large fortune on acollection of early Italian art which he bequeathed tothe National Gallery.

This small, full-length statuette is modelled inexquisite detail. Mond stands before us with a bullish stance, the pose emphasising a broad chestand shoulders. He steps out purposefully with hisright foot, a walking stick grasped in his right handwith head thrust forward and slightly turned to ourleft. Dressed in the outdoor clothes of a distinguishedgentleman, he wears narrow trousers, a single-breasted overcoat, with two flapped pockets on hisright side, one pocket on the left and three buttonsdown the front.

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The overcoat is open to display the edge of amorning coat with a waistcoat beneath. His hat hasa high rounded crown and a wide brim, pulled downlow over thick curly hair. His moustache and the fullbeard covering his chin are also curly. Mond’sfeatures are delineated in minute detail; the face issquarish, the nose straight and there are pouchesbeneath his eyes.

Moving round the statuette anti-clockwise to ourright, Mond’s left hand is visible clasping adocument against the small of his back. Facing theback of the statuette, the forward thrust of Mond’shead and the hunch of his shoulders are moreevident, asserting his drive and energy. Continuingto our right, Mond’s right hand is pressed against his waist, the fingers curled round the top of hiswalking stick.




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Sir Robert Ludwig Mond 1867 – 1938

By Edward (Edouard) Lanteri (1848 – 1917)Bronze statuette, 191214 1/2 in. (36.9 cm) high

Sir Robert Ludwig Mond (1867 – 1938) was the sonof Ludwig Mond the industrial chemist and collectorof early Italian art. Sir Robert was also anindustrialist and carried out research in his father’sfirm which laid the foundations of Imperial ChemicalIndustries (ICI) in 1926. In 1930 he becamePresident of the Faraday Society. Sir Robert LudwigMond was also an archaeologist and devoted timeand finance to a number of expeditions in Egypt. He bequeathed some very significant finds to theBritish Museum.

Sir Robert Ludwig Mond sitting full length isexquisitely sculpted in bronze on a very small scale.His head is just one inch long, or less than 3centimetres. This portrait at the age of forty-five is ofa distinguished figure of knowledge and learning.

He sits on a heavy wooden upright armchair usingboth armrests with his right leg crossed over his left.His right hand clasps a document resting on hisright thigh, his thumb uppermost. His left hand

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dangles from the left armrest. Flowing universitygowns, which drop down to just above his ankles,hide much of the suit which he is wearing withwaistcoat, collar and tie. Tilting his upper body andhead over to the right, he leans their weight on hisright elbow. He has the manner of someoneknowledgeable and at ease when engaged inthoughtful discussion. Under calm horizontal browshis heavily lidded eyes gently rest as if on someoneopposite him and towards his left.

His receding hair parted on the left is brushedbehind his large rounded ears. The dome of hisforehead is long and high. His strong nose curvesdown from a high bridge. Full moustaches curveround onto his cheeks on either side while a roundbeard adds length to his chin. The cape of hisuniversity gown encircles his neck and spreads overhis shoulders. His chair stands on a rectangularbase with bevelled corners, which has two steppedlayers. The lowest is of green marble. The leatherlace-up shoe of his left foot protrudes over the edgeof the base on which it rests and the right foot isheld even further forwards. Near his left foot, in frontof the front right chair leg a small object rests with ajumble of papers on the base. It resembles a temple


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doorway or shrine and relates to Sir Robert’sarchaeological investigations in Egypt.

On the base under the chair on his left side, theartist has engraved his signature in the bronze, ‘EdLanteri 1912’.




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Charles Darwin 1809 – 82

By John Collier (1850 – 1934)Oil on canvas, 188349 1/2 x 38 in. (125.7 x 96.5 cm)

The great scientist, Charles Darwin (1809 – 82),formulated the theory of evolution by naturalselection. His meticulous survey of life-forms andthe conditions which govern their developmentresulted in his famous work, ‘On the Origin ofSpecies’. He wrote other important books onbotany, zoology, geology and evolution.

This three-quarter length portrait is a copy by theartist of a painting he undertook for the LinnaeanSociety in 1881. It shows Darwin in the year beforehis death. According to Darwin’s third son, Francis.The portrait represents him standing facing theobserver in the loose cloak so familiar to those whoknew him and with his slouch hat in his hand.Many of those who knew his face most intimately,think that Mr. Collier’s picture is the best of theportraits and in this judgment, the sitter himself wasinclined to agree.

Light falls on Darwin from the top left, highlightinghis sparse, silvery-white hair, long curly white beard

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and moustache.

It describes the high dome of his bald head, thepouch under his right eye and wrinkled cheek. Theleft side of his face is in dark shadow. The brightestaccent is the bushy white eyebrow that droops downover the outer corner of his eye. His nose is slightlyflat and rounded at the tip; the mouth indicated by ashort thin line between moustache and beard. Thewide collar of the cloak on his right side is paintedalmost black, a darker tone to the background,emphasising the whiteness of his beard. The cloakis broadly painted in fluid strokes of dark brown.

The light is described in cool grey tones where ittouches his right shoulder and the cloak’s soft folds.He holds the brim of his hat so that the crown facesus with the thumb visible at the bottom right of thepicture. The curves of brim, hat band and the leftside of the crown are subtly indicated where thelight catches them, the curve of the brim a delicatesilvery line. He gazes out of the picture towards uswith a thoughtful, rather sad expression.




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Sir Richard Owen 1804 – 92

By Henry William Pickersgill (1782 – 1875)Oil on canvas, about 184556 1/4 x 44 in. (142.9 x 111.8 cm)

From the mid 1830s Sir Richard Owen (1804 –92)was the leading British comparative anatomist andone of the most formidable opponents of Darwin’sevolutionary theories. He was superintendent of the Natural History Department of the BritishMuseum and designed new natural history galleriesat South Kensington (now known as The NaturalHistory Museum).

This three quarter length portrait is said to representOwen lecturing on the pearly nautilus, a molluscwith a chambered external shell, that was thesubject of one of his best known works. He displaysthe shell with the opening facing him in the palm ofhis left hand at waist level. It is pale and shiny withgradations of horizontal brown stripes, the shapesimilar to that of a garden snail’s shell but verymuch larger. Owen rests his right hand next to aglass jar situated on a table at the bottom left of thepicture. The jar contains the soft grey body of themollusc depicted in anatomical detail. Some of its

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many tentacles are visible pointing upwards.

Owen’s face, turned to our left is youthful and clean-shaven. Light emphasises a high, square foreheadwith a receding hairline and a prominent, roundedchin. Dark eyes are widely set above a broad, flatnose. His thin lips are slightly parted as if he isabout to speak.

Formally dressed, the russet-coloured panels at thefront of Owen’s dark academic gown drop downover a black tailcoat. A high, black velvet cravat setsoff the brilliant white of his starched shirt and stiffpointed collar.




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Michael Faraday 1791 – 1867

By Thomas Phillips (1770 – 1845)Oil on canvas, 1841 – 184235 3/4 x 28 in. (90.8 x 71.1 cm)

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) was a chemist andexperimental physicist whose discoveries providethe basis of modern electrical technology. Born theson of a blacksmith, and apprenticed to abookbinder he devoted his leisure to science.Largely self-taught he was engaged by Sir HumphryDavy as his assistant at the Royal Institution in1813.

Faraday liquefied chlorine and other gases, and in 1823 discovered benzene. He became involved in running the Royal Institution and in 1826established both the Friday evening discourses formembers of the Royal Institution and the Christmaslectures for children which continue to this day. On29 August 1831 he made his greatest discovery:electromagnetic induction. This breakthrough led toa series of experiments carried out over thefollowing ten weeks which are now acknowledged as the basis of modern electrical technology. Heeffectively invented the first electric transformer

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and generator.

In the following decade he rewrote the theory ofelectrochemistry, coining the words electrode, anode,cathode, and ion in the process, and he establishedthe laws of electrolysis. Further discoveriesculminated in the 1850s with establishment of thefield theory of electromagnetism. This remains oneof the cornerstones of physics.

Faraday oversaw the programme to electrifylighthouses around the British Isles. He undertookenquiries into explosions at the Waltham Abbeygunpowder factory and at Haswell Colliery, for theHome Office, as well as advising the NationalGallery and other owners of works of art aboutconservation issues.

Throughout his life he was deeply committed to theChristian literalist beliefs of the Sandemanian sect.In 1858 Prince Albert arranged for him to have agrace and favour house at Hampton Court Palacewhere he spent his last years and died. Heappeared on the £20 note from 1991 until 1999.

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is a Cruikshank battery of the sort he used in hiselectrical experiments, while on the right flamesindicate the furnace that was necessary for a rangeof laboratory work at this time.

Although it could be that the flames representinstead his enquiries into explosions at the WalthamAbbey gunpowder factory.

The background of the painting is almost black.Michael Faraday is in a very dark setting wearing abuttoned black jacket and a wide black neck-clotharound a very high white collar. His face, shirt frontand hands are abruptly picked out from thedarkness by a shaft of light. He leans towards theleft of the painting with his elbow resting on atabletop and his hands clasped with interlacedfingers in front of his waist. His square chin restsbetween the ends of his collar. The firm shapes ofhis full mouth, with its regular wavy upper lip andwide bowl shape of the lower lip, add to the look ofpowerful concentration in his gaze. Dark brown eyeslook into the distance to your right. His eyes are setbetween thick brown eyebrows slanting down to hisnose, and high cheekbones with warm red cheeks.His nose has a firmly rounded end. Long brown hair,


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centrally parted, falls down on either side of hisface, hiding his ears and revealing his high widebrow, bright and clear.

The light also catches the Cruikshank battery. It issitting on the tabletop in the lower left corner of thepicture at the same level as his hands. A pale boxwith the proportions of a shoebox, it has an interiordivided across at regular intervals. Brown tubingescapes from the nearest section and curls onto thetable beside the inventor.




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Octavia Hill 1838 – 1912

By John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925)Oil on canvas, 189839 3/4 x 30 1/2 in. (101 x 77.5 cm)

Octavia Hill (1838 – 1912) was a social reformer,influenced by Christian Socialism. Encouraged byJohn Ruskin, she devoted her life to housingreform, supervising the building and management ofnumerous dwellings. She was widely involved withother charitable activities and became a founder ofthe National Trust.

She is depicted half-length, seated with handsclasped in front of her, against a warm red, brownbackground. Turned slightly to our right, she holdsher ample figure erect, her brown eyes gazingupwards to our left. She looks as if she might beremembering an amusing incident. The twohighlights in her eyes bring her expression to life.Her features are strong with a well defined noseand firm chin. Her face is kindly but there is also ahint of the steely resolve and dedication, for whichshe was so admired.

Bright light falls on top of Hill’s grey hair which isparted in the centre and gathered loosely at the

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back of her head. There is a vivid contrast in thedarkness of the background to our right togetherwith the softly lit black fabric of Hill’s voluminoussleeves and a creamy white diaphanous scarf, wornround her neck and gathered at the waist. Thetexture of the scarf is painted with squiggles,curves, dabs and downward strokes where itcatches the light. Hill’s blouse is just visible beneathand is of a silvery white with a high ruffled neckline.

This portrait was commissioned from Sargent byher friends and was given to Hill on her sixtiethbirthday. It has a fine carved wooden frame ofleaves and flowers.




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John Burns 1858 – 1943

By John Collier (1850 – 1934)Oil on canvas, 188949 x 36 1/4 in. (124.5 x 92.1 cm)

John Burns (1858 – 1943) was a Labour leader andpolitician. He left school at the age of ten and, as anapprentice engineer, became active in the tradesunion. He joined the Social Democratic Foundationin 1885 and travelled the continent studying labourconditions. Burns was elected MP in 1892 butrefused to join the Independent Labour Party andmoved towards the liberals. He became a memberof the cabinet as President of the Local GovernmentBoard, 1905 – 14 and of the Board of Trade in1914, but resigned in opposition to the war and tookno further part in public life.

This portrait was painted when Burns was forty, inthe year that he became well known for hisleadership in the London dock strike. It portrays him three-quarter length, standing before us, bothhands firmly grasping his waist. With head slightlytilted to our left, he confronts the viewer with anenquiring expression.

The most arresting features of his face are the

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prominent black arched eyebrows above large browneyes. Burns’ complexion is sallow, his black hair cutshort and dark beard and moustache neatly trimmed.He has high cheek bones and his nose is rounded atthe tip.

The white collar and cuffs of his shirt stand out incontrast to his black double breasted jacket andblack trousers and the warm red of his tie is pickedup in the reddish brown colour of the background.




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The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, 1913

By Sir John Lavery (1856 – 1941)Oil on canvas, 1913134 x 107 in. (340.3 x 271.8 cm)

This large and imposing group portrait depictingKing George V (1865 – 1936) and Queen Mary(1867 – 1953) with their two eldest children,Edward, Prince of Wales (1894 – 1972) andPrincess Mary (1897 – 1965) was commissioned bythe publisher W. H. Spottiswoode and presented byhim to the National Portrait Gallery in 1913. Thesetting is the magnificent White Drawing Room atBuckingham Palace.

King George V became successor to the throne onthe death of his elder brother, the Duke of Clarencein 1892. He married Mary of Tek in 1893 andtogether they travelled widely through the empireand greatly popularised the monarchy in Britain.

Edward, Prince of Wales spent most of the FirstWorld War visiting troops and raising morale. Hisconcern for the unemployed and his travels abroadmade him a popular figure. He reigned betweenJanuary and December 1936.

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His abdication followed insoluble constitutionalproblems raised by his proposed marriage to theAmerican divorcee, Wallis Simpson.

Queen Mary and Princess Mary visited hospitalsand welfare organisations during the First WorldWar. After a nursing course in 1918, Princess Maryworked at Great Ormond Street and in 1926 wasappointed Commandant in Chief of British RedCross Detachments.

The cavernous drawing room is shadowy. Lightfilters into the background, softly illuminating crystalchandeliers, a grand piano at the left edge, small inthe background and the polished floor of a roomglimpsed through an open doorway. In theforeground at the right edge, pale pink flowers standin a large round vase, a tall stem with a profusion ofnarrow, drooping leaves stand out in silhouetteagainst a sunlit window.

The Royal Family are portrayed full length andposed together in the lower half of the painting.About a quarter of the way into the portrait from theleft edge, George V stands formally, both handsresting on the hilt of a sword pointing downwards infront of him. He gazes directly at the viewer with


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large grey eyes. His brown hair is cut very short,moustache and beard, neatly clipped. The King isdressed in naval uniform. Light from two floor toceiling windows at the right edge glints on the goldof such details as his golden epaulets, stiff collar andcuffs and the medals across his chest. The King andQueen both wear vivid blue shoulder sashes, theonly strong colour in a composition of muted greys,pale yellows and white.

Queen Mary holds herself erect and gazes with aserious expression in the same direction as herdaughter. There is a resemblance between the two;the Queen’s hair, swept back is also light brown andcurly, her eyes large and blue, her lips full. Thevisible brush marks on her dress are in tones ofcream, bright white and greys giving the effect ofivory silk. Three long strands of pearls fall downacross her chest, one strand reaching to her waist.She wears silvery chokers and a coronet glistens onher hair. The badge of the Red Cross is visiblepinned at her left breast.

Princess Mary, aged sixteen, sits on a footstool infront of a sofa between the King and Queen. Sheleans gracefully against the Queen, who is seated


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on the sofa to her left. The Princess rests her leftarm on her mother’s knee. The raking light from thewindows delineates the left side of her face,defining a straight nose and full lips. Her blue eyeslook out of the painting to our right. Bold brushworkdescribes the three ruffles at the bottom of her longwhite skirt and a pale blue sash, tied at the waistthat drops to the floor. Light falls in a bright lozengeon her lap and picks out a bracelet on thePrincess’s right arm and a string of pearls at herneck. The Princess’s hair is light brown and wavyand brushed behind her shoulders.

The Prince of Wales stands behind the Queen andPrincess Mary, his hands resting on the top of thesofa so that only his upper body and head arevisible. He appears younger than his nineteenyears. His clean-shaven face is turned to our leftwith a proud expression. The white wing-collar ofhis shirt stands out in contrast to his dark waistcoatand jacket. Medals gleam on his chest.

This portrait was the centre of attention at the RoyalAcademy Summer Exhibition where it was exhibited in 1913. The critics noted its ‘romanticimpressionism’ and hailed it as ‘a veritable triumph


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over the formalism to which in some pictures we are accustomed’.




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Early Victorian Arts

Charles Dickens 1812 – 70

By Daniel Maclise (1806 – 70)Oil on canvas, 183936 x 28 1/8 in. (91.4 x 71.4 cm)

Charles Dickens (1812 – 70) was the most famousand most popular of all Victorian novelists. Dickenswas a highly prolific writer. The combination ofcomedy, pathos, and social satire in his serialisednovels won him thousands of contemporary readers,and many of his characters, such as Mr Micawber,Mrs Gamp, Mr Pickwick, Quilp, and Uriah Heep,have entered the British national consciousness.Through his fiction he also did much to highlightstriking abuses of 19th-century society and to prickthe public conscience. The Irish painter DanielMaclise was a close friend of the novelist andportrayed Dickens on more than one occasion aswell as making portraits of his wife and children.This portrait was made just after the publication of‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and was regarded bycontemporaries as a good likeness. Dickens’ fellownovelist Thackeray wrote, ‘as a likeness perfectlyamazing: a looking-glass could not render a betterfacsimile. Here we have the real identical manDickens’.

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Charles Dickens is a slight, agile looking figurewearing a narrow sleeved long-tailed dark brownjacket with very wide lapels and matching narrowtrousers. He sits on the left side of the painting at awriting table which stands on the extreme right.

Dickens directs his body towards the table. His lefthand reaches over onto the table to press down onsome handwritten pages. His feet wearing sharplypointed winklepicker shoes rest on the carpet almostat the extreme right edge of the painting. From thewindow behind him bright patches of sunlight castthe shadow of the window frame onto the wood-panelled wall above the writing desk. CharlesDickens looks away from his desk and turns to hishead round to look up at the window over his rightshoulder. He has large blue-grey eyes.

Long brown wavy hair is swept away from hisforehead and hangs in a rounded mass over hisears and above his shoulders. His face is very finefeatured with high brows arching into a long veryslender curved nose. The full red lips of his bow-shaped mouth are relaxed.

His chair is upholstered in red and has elaboratelydecorative carved armrests and legs. His coat-tail


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escapes through the gap under the armrest anddangles down to the floor. Behind his chair a greencurtain is drawn back from a window in line with theextreme left edge of the painting. The curtainspreads over the floor around the back right leg ofthe chair on which Dickens sits. With his right elbowon the armrest Charles Dickens raises his smallright hand as if ready to clutch a pen as inspirationshines down.




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The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë, Emily Brontëand Charlotte Brontë (Mrs A.B. Nicholls))

By Patrick Branwell Brontë (1817 – 48)Oil on canvas, about 183435 1/2 x 29 3/8 in. (90.2 x 74.6 cm)

This is the only surviving portrait of the threecelebrated novelists, the Brontë sisters.

Charlotte Brontë (1816 – 55) first published ‘JaneEyre’ under the assumed male name ‘Currer Bell’.She was the eldest, born in 1816. Emily Brontë(1818 – 48) was author of ‘Wuthering Heights’published under the name ‘Ellis Bell’ and AnneBrontë (1820 – 49) was author of ‘The Tenant ofWildfell Hall’ published under the name ‘Acton Bell’.

The artist was their brother, Patrick Branwell Brontë,born in 1817. He went to London to study paintingat the Royal Academy but only stayed a few days.The Brontë children grew up in a parsonagesurrounded by moorland at Haworth near Bradfordin Yorkshire and remained there. All four diedyoung. Emily and Patrick both died in 1848, Emilywas thirty and Patrick was thirty-one. In thefollowing year their younger sister Anne died at theage of twenty-nine. Charlotte was the eldest andlived the longest, dying at the age of thirty-nine

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in 1855.

The novelist Elizabeth Gaskell gave a description ofthe portrait as she had seen it in 1853. After that itwas thought to have been lost until it wasdiscovered folded up on top of a cupboard in 1914.She stated elsewhere that at the time of the portraitCharlotte was eighteen, Emily was sixteen andAnne was fourteen. In the centre of the group amale figure, previously concealed by a paintedpillar, can now be discerned; it is almost certainly aselfportrait of the artist, Patrick Branwell Brontë.

This painting is damaged with cracks in the form ofa cross through the centre where the canvas hasbeen folded. The original canvas has been laid on anew canvas so that the original stretcher marks andunpainted edge are all visible. It shows three youngwomen from the waist up, standing around a smallwriting table in front of a limestone pillar. All threewear white collars with v-neck openings whichspread wide across their shoulders above long-sleeved velvet dresses which have belts. Theirsleeves are very wide at the elbow but tight alongthe wrist.

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dark blue, Emily is in the centre in green andCharlotte, the tallest, is to your right in brown. Eachhas a pale complexion, pink cheeks, dark fineeyebrows and brown hair parted in the centre. Allthree have their hair drawn forward at the front sothat ringlets dangle down beside their faces.

Anne stands with her right shoulder towards you, atthe extreme left of the painting, with only the front ofher figure within its frame. Hers is the smallest headand the most dainty. Anne has large horizontalalmond-shaped blue eyes. Beneath a wide foreheadher fine dark eyebrows slant down to a gentlycurving long finely pointed nose. She has shapelybow lips above a small round chin.

Emily stands behind both Anne and the writing tablewearing green. Her chin is level with Anne’sforehead. Emily has a high forehead and a tall ovalshape to her face. She looks directly at you witheyes that are also light blue and set further apartthan Anne’s. Her nose is broader and flatter at its tip and her mouth with full lips neither as evenlyshaped nor as wide. Between Emily and Charlottethe pillar stands. Within the pillar it is possible to findthe image of a man in a dark jacket with a white


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shirt-front.

This is probably their brother, the artist Patrick, nowpainted out. Charlotte, the most brightly lit, stands atthe extreme right and turns towards her sisterslooking up towards the light above your leftshoulder. Charlotte’s eyes are brown matching herdress and they stand out sharply against her verylight skin. She also has the reddest cheeks addingto an excited or inspired expression rather likeAnne’s. Behind a dark hair band, her hair isgathered into a bun at the top of her head, makingher the tallest. Her jaw is wider and slightly heavier,and her bow shaped mouth has a thinner top lip,than those of her sisters. With her left arm Charlottereaches across amongst the books on the table.This area is painted without exact perspective sothat there is confusion about the positions of theirhands and the books appear to hover above thetable. Elsewhere the painting has a bold andelegant simplicity of a tapestry. However MrsGaskell considered that it was ‘not much better thansign painting’.




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Sir Edwin Henry Landseer 1802 – 73

By John Ballantyne (1815 – 97)Oil on canvas, about 186531 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. (80 x 113 cm)

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802 – 73) was acelebrated animal painter, a sculptor, and anengraver, who was born in London. Landseer was achild prodigy, first exhibiting at the Royal Academy atthe age of fourteen. He went on to become QueenVictoria’s favourite painter. He was highly successful,being probably the most popular painter of his age.Edwin Landseer earned vast sums from the sale ofengravings made from many of his paintings by hisbrother, Thomas.

Landseer established his reputation with animalsubjects which parodied human behaviour. Hebecame known for acutely realistic portrayals ofdogs, usually of highbred species in gallant poses.Landseer also gained fame as a painter of deer,eagles and other wildlife, often using them to expressmoral sentiments.

Sir Edwin Landseer worked in the studio of BaronMarochetti sculpting the lions for the base ofNelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. The project

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occupied him for eight years between 1858 and1866 and contributed to ill health in the last tenyears of his life.

The portrait is one of a series of artists in theirstudios by the artist Ballantyne and was exhibitedwith the set in November 1865.

In a high draughty red brick hall a huge white malelion sits on a wooden stand facing your far right.Between front paws each as long as a man, the tinyfigure of Sir Edwin Landseer sits on a low woodenbox in opposite profile to the lion’s huge headabove. Landseer’s lower leg and foot are hidden bythe lion’s nearest paw. He is reaching out with hisright hand to add clay with a modelling knife to thelion’s chest, while his left hand holds a lump of darkwet clay and rests on his knee. Wearing greytrousers and a wide-sleeved mid-brown jacket withblack lapels, his left shoulder is nearest us. Thecrouching body of the lion is about six times largerthan life and dominates the left of the painting. Hisdry white clay head rises at the centre of thepainting towards the skylight in the roof with hisdeepset eyes cast in dark shadow. The lion’s mouthopens as if to snarl at an adversary while he looks


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ahead down his nose. Alongside his stand there is aset of three steps and a large pair of measuringcallipers. Ahead of the lion there is another set oftwo large steps also for mounting the stand.

The lion is looking over Landseer’s head towards apicture propped up against studio furniture in thelower right hand corner of the painting. It showsanother snarling lion in profile walking towards him.Sir Edwin Landseer too has a tousled mane of whitehair around his ears, a powerful brow and a beardon his chin. The angles of his short nose andnostrils answer the lion’s. The face of the lionbegins to look like a large self-portrait. Landseer’sface is not shown in detail but instead it is lost inshadow and in concentration on his work. Also lyingon the box a dog faces you dozing warily betweenthe lion’s paws and between the sculptor and theedge of the stand. This dog might represent Lassiethe collie dog known to have been Landseer’sconstant companion in the studio at this time. Linedup on wooden supports against the far wall at theright of the painting are two lions identical to the onein progress. Above them high on the wall is a largepainting of a male lion seen from below against thesky. These three huge heads rise above the artist


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Carlo, Baron Marochetti 1805 – 67

By Gabriele Ambrosio (1844 – 1918)Bronze statuette, 188824 5/8 in. (62.5 cm) high

Carlo Giovanni Battista Marochetti, Baron Marochetti(1805 – 67), was an Italian baron and sculptorpatronised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.Marochetti was born in Turin and studied art inRome and Paris. His patrons already included CarloAlberto and Louis Philippe before his move toLondon in 1848. He regularly exhibited at the RoyalAcademy and became a noted member of theLondon art world. Marochetti executed statues ofQueen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington as wellas many decorative works and busts. He was alsoappointed to advise and assist the painter Sir EdwinLandseer in sculpting the lions for Trafalgar Square,much to Landseer’s indignation.

This portrait in bronze of Carlo Marochetti was madetwenty years after his death. It shows Marochetti thesculptor at work, resting on a set of portable woodensteps in contemplation, surrounded by sculptingtools, plans, and a bronze relief.

Seen from in front, he is sitting on the second of the

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set of three tall steps wearing a long coat whichhangs open while the lapels meet at the top button.Leaning back on his left elbow, the weight of hisupper body is supported by his left elbow andforearm resting on the top step. His right forearmreaches across his lower chest so that theforefingers of both his hands are engaged inworking clay. Between the fingers of his left handrests a clay-working knife.

Carlo Marochetti lifts his gaze towards his righttilting his head back towards his left shoulder. Hepurses his lips and frowns thoughtfully. He has along fine nose with a high bridge. His wavy thickhair is parted on the left above a high domedforehead. Brushed away from his face, his hairhangs thickly around his ears and the back of hishead. Long heavy sideburns run along beneath hischeeks almost to the corners of his clean-shavenmouth and chin.

Underneath the figure and the steps, a lowrectangular base provides a narrow ledge andcurves forwards carrying an inscription in capitalletters: CARLO MAROCHETTI. He stretches his leftfoot forward so that his elegant leather slip-on shoe


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with its chisel toe protrudes beyond the inscription.His right knee drops down beside the step on whichhe sits. He bends his lower right leg beside him at alow angle to the base. With his instep resting on theedge of the base his right foot hangs over the side.He is not settled but ready to leave the steps andrise to his feet.

Seen from his right, Marochetti’s head is at the topof a tall triangular shape made by the long line ofhis right thigh and upper body on one side, and onthe other by his left arm resting its elbow on the topstep in line with a scroll of paper hanging over theback of the top step. These extend towards ajumble of studio clutter at the base of the triangle,on the floor behind the steps. Also visible from thisside is the cord belt of Marochetti’s cloak hangingfrom his waist down to just above the heel of hisright foot. A mallet lies beside the steps.

Seen from the back, a sculpting wire-tool rests onthe open scroll on the top step. Engraved into thesurface of the scroll are the outlines of the sculpturein progress; a horse in profile. More scrolls of paperand riding stirrups carelessly abandoned on thefloor, are heaped against the steps.


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Seen from Marochetti’s left, a picture in shallowrelief propped against the steps comes into view.Just taller than the bottom step, and half as high ashis knee, it is three times as wide as it is tall. Undera canopy eight Renaissance courtiers in two groupsare in attendance on either side of two centralcharacters making dramatic declarations.




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Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 – 61

By Michele Gordigiani (1830 – 1909)Oil on canvas, 185829 x 23 in. (73.7 x 58.4 cm)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 61) a poet,political thinker, and feminist, married another poet,Robert Browning, at the age of forty and bore a sonat the age of forty-three.

‘The Seraphim and Other Poems’, of 1838, putChristian sentiments into classical Greek tragedy.For nearly a decade after 1838 Barrett Browningwas severely troubled by a childhood spinal injuryand lung ailment, her physical pain amplified bygrief at the drowning of her eldest brother in 1840.She continued writing and produced a volume ofpoems in 1844 with an American edition introducedby Edgar Allan Poe. This collection included ‘LadyGeraldine's Courtship’, an experiment in combiningpoem and novel. Narrated by a male poet, adialogue between lovers considers woman's statusas the object of art.

In 1850, when William Wordsworth died, BarrettBrowning was proposed as his successor as PoetLaureate of England. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is

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now known chiefly for ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’,dedicated to her husband with whom she eloped in1846. Written in secret before her marriage, andpublished in 1850, the lovers of this sequence arerecognizably Victorian, and their mutual desire is amatter of passionate equality.

Her most ambitious work was ‘Aurora Leigh’, of 1856,a novel in blank verse. It tells the story of a femalepoet's artistic development in the face of a maleaccusation that ‘women, personal and passionate’cannot comprehend ‘universal anguish’. Women aretherefore denied the source of poetic profundity.

This portrait was commissioned by the friend whointroduced Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Spiritualism,Sophia May Eckley. Elizabeth Barrett Browning sitson a chair with a high upright back, level with the topof her head. It carries carved floral features on eitherside, suggesting a stately setting. Elizabeth BarrettBrowning’s body faces your left and her head bowsslightly in that direction so that her high-domedforehead is brightly lit. Her face is surrounded by longvery dark hair spreading wide across her shouldersfrom a central parting.

She looks up directly at you with large brown eyes


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from under dark eyelashes and the firm arcs of darkeyebrows. Her long nose is slightly bulbous at thetip. Her mouth has full lips that look ready to smileabove her strong round chin. There is a faint glow ofpink in her pale round cheeks. Her full-sleeved darkbrown dress has a silken sheen. It is decorated fromthe neck down to her waist with five pairs ofcrocheted lace floral discs. A gold brooch bearing alarge blue precious stone sits on top of the topmostpair of lace decorations and clasps a dark bluevelvet ribbon around her neck so that its ends hangdown to partly conceal the other lace discs. Whereher under sleeves emerge at the wrist they are alsoexquisitely decorated with fine decorative white lacecuffs. Her left hand is partially hidden by the bottomedge of the painting as it dangles from a wide darkwooden armrest. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wearsrings on all fingers apart from the index finger.

This portrait is a companion piece to that of herhusband. A label on the back of the frame, statesthat it was ‘pronounced by Robert Browning to bethe best Portrait ever taken of the Poetess'.However Robert Browning also wrote that 'Theportrait is not perfect certainly; the nose seems overlong and there are some other errors in the face;


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also, the whole figure gives the idea of a largerwoman than Ba'.




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Robert Browning 1812 – 89

By Michele Gordigiani (1830 – 1909)Oil on canvas, 185828 1/2 x 23 1/8 in. (72.4 x 58.7 cm)

Robert Browning (1812 – 89) was one of the greatpoets of the nineteenth century, admired for hisintellect and for his use of psychologicalmonologues. He married Elizabeth Barrett in 1846and lived mostly in Italy until her death in 1861.Some of his most famous works include, ‘The Ringand the Book’, 1868 – 9, ‘Balaustion’s Adventure’,1871 and ‘Dramatic Idylls’, 1879 – 80.

This portrait was commissioned by an Americanadmirer, Sophia Eckley when Browning was living inFlorence. Mrs Eckley was determined that it wouldbe the best available likeness of him and wrote onthe stretcher at the back of the picture thatBrowning had described it as an ‘IncomparablePortrait, by far the best ever taken’.

Browning’s head and upper body are depicted inclose up. Turned to our right, with head inclined, his grey, slightly hooded eyes gaze at the viewerwith a sombre scrutiny. Two faint lines between the eyebrows contribute to the seriousness of

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his expression.

His nose is prominent and bony, the lips thin andpursed. His strong chin and rather pointed jaw-lineare clean-shaven and emphasised by a full greyfringe beard worn under the chin and jaw. His darkgrey hair is brushed across a high wide foreheadand is quite long, covering the ears. Browning’shead casts a shadow on a stonewall to our left anda pillar at the right edge of the paintingcounterbalances the tilt of his head.

His right elbow rests on the arm of a chair,upholstered in dusky pink with a grey floral designthat appears as a horizontal shape at the bottom ofthe painting. The right hand is strongly lit andpositioned with the fingers loosely curled against hischest. Part of his other hand appears in the bottomright corner. The dark grey-brown jacket isalleviated by a brilliant white shirt cuff on his rightarm and a hint of white shirt where the jacket opensat the front.

M.W. Rossetti wrote after Browning’s death, ‘Theface in this portrait is certainly a highly intellectualone, but I think it is treated with too much“morbidezza”, so as to lack some of that extreme


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keenness which characterised Browning’.




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Potraits by G.F. Watts

William Morris 1834 – 96

By George Frederic Watts (1817 – 1904)Oil on canvas, 187025 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (64.8 x 52.1 cm)

William Morris (1834 – 96) was one of the principalfounders of the British Arts and Crafts Movement.Best known as a designer of wallpaper and patternedfabrics, he profoundly influenced Victorian taste. Hewas also a writer of poetry and fiction, and an earlyfounder of the socialist movement in Britain. AtOxford he met his life long friends and collaborators,the artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown.

On 15 April 1870, William Morris wrote to his wife,Jane (who at the time was having an affair withRossetti), ‘I am going to sit to Watts this afternoon,though I have got a devil of a cold in the head, whichdon’t make it very suitable’. According to Mrs Watts,the portrait was painted at a single sitting, although itis possible that Watts may have done more work onit when it was exhibited in 1880.

In this half-length portrait, Morris’s head is positionedcentrally in the upper half of the painting. His bulkybody is situated so that the outline of his right upper

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arm is visible and the left shoulder extends to theedge of the picture.

His body is painted with little detail and appears asa dark brown shape blending into the background.Morris seems to be embedded in the portrait; a fewloosely painted silvery petal-like patterns on the verydark greenish-grey background float over the edgeof his hair on his left and just overlap the top of hisright shoulder. The powerful impression of Morris’sappearance owes much to the shock of thick, curly,rich brown hair, greying at the temples, that frameshis forehead like a mane. His full beard is reddishbrown in tone and cut square, the moustache neatlytrimmed. The texture of the paint on his face has aluminous quality. Small dabs are visible in themodelling of the cheeks and chin. The colour of thebackground emphasises Morris’s ruddy complexionand the creamy tones where light touches his highforehead. His face is imposing with a strong butfinely chiselled nose and thin pursed lips.

It is evident that he had a cold; the eyes, small andgrey appear watery; the lids of the right eye arenoticeably a little reddened. His expression could bedescribed as both resigned and miserable. There


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was little contemporary comment on this paintingapart from a later, well judged remark from G. K.Chesterton that, ‘There is something in the way inwhich the living leonine head projects from abackground of green and silver decoration. Thisimmersion of a singularly full-blooded andaggressive man in the minutiae of aesthetics wasa paradox that attracted men to Morris’.




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Late Victorian Arts

Louise Jopling-Rowe (neé Goode) 1843 – 1933

By Sir John Everett Millais (1829 – 96)Oil on canvas, 187949 x 30 in. (124.5 x 76 cm)

Louise Jopling (1843 – 1933) studied art in the mid-1860s and supported her family financially throughpainting and illustration. After the collapse of herfirst marriage, she married the watercolourist,Joseph Jopling in 1874. She exhibited portraits andsubject paintings at the Paris Salon from 1869, theRoyal Academy from 1871 and the GrosvenorGallery from its inception in 1877. Jopling was acentral figure in the artistic and literary circles of herperiod and a close friend of Whistler and Millais.She established her own art school to train womenpainters and was a supporter of the National Unionof Women’s Suffrage.

In this three-quarter-length portrait, Louise Joplingstands turned to our left, clasping a fan behind herback. She is positioned against a broadly painted,warm-brown background. The pose is elegant andconveys confidence. Her dark hair is caught behindher head; the short wispy fringe giving the style aninformal, contemporary look.

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Her face is pale and beautiful; large dark browneyes gaze out of the painting to our right with aserious questioning expression although there is the hint of a smile on her small shapely mouth.

An elaborate evening dress displays the contours ofher ‘hour glass’ figure. A close-fitting over -dress ofblack satin, slightly ruched at the hips and edgedwith black lace is cut away at the front andshoulders to reveal a bodice, skirt and three-quarterlength sleeves of patterned gauzy fabric. The bodiceis long and similar to a waistcoat with two points atthe bottom and fastened at the front with buttons. It has a low, narrow neckline edged with white laceand black ruffles lined with red. There is a profusionof large red flowershaped ruffles at the breast and at the bottom of the sleeve visible on her left arm.The texture of the different fabrics is conveyed withgreat skill. The satin is painted with broad strokesthat glisten with oil and the gauzy fabric has adelicate Japanese-inspired pattern of tiny sprigs of leaves and flowers. The design is vibrant incolours of red, white, lilac and pale green on a blackgauze background.

Millais’ monogram and the date 1879 appear at the


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bottom left. The painting was completed in fivesittings and was exhibited to critical acclaim in the1880 Grosvenor Gallery exhibition. For Whistler,who also painted Jopling, it was a ‘superb portraitand a great work of art’.




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Gertrude Elizabeth, Lady Colin Campbell1857 – 1911

By Giovanni Boldini (1842 – 1931)Oil on canvas, about 189772 5/8 x 47 3/8 in. (184.3 x 120.2 cm)

Lady Colin Campbell (1857 – 1911) was a journalistand socialite. She separated from Lord Campbellafter a notorious court case in 1886 in which healleged her adultery with four co-respondents. AfterCampbell’s death in 1895, she re-established herstanding in society as art critic of ‘The World’ andthe ‘Art Journal’ and editor of the ‘Ladies Field’,which reflected her interests as a sportswoman and dilettante.

This portrait is striking in its bold brushwork andlimited palette of black, mid silvery grey and palecool pink. The artist has ignored the rules ofanatomy in favour of an impression of allure and glamour.

Lady Colin Campbell is seated, full length at oneend of a chaise longue against a grey background.She wears a long black satin evening gown with alow neckline.

The pose is provocative; she leans to her left,

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against the high arm of the chaise longue, the tilt ofher body emphasising the rounded contour of righthip and thigh, the rich fabric of the gown clinging toher legs. Her head is slightly lowered and she looksdirectly at the viewer with dark eyes beneath well-defined black eyebrows. Her expression ischallenging and seductive, a smile playing on herred lips. A broad, rather flat nose gives her face acertain strength of character. Black curly hair piledloosely at the back of her head with a featheryfringe over her high forehead sets off her very palepink complexion. Lady Cambell’s left arm is raisedto toy with her hair and rests on the arm of thechaise longue. The elbow comes forward butappears to be too large in proportion to her face.The puffed sleeve of her gown is made of stiff netthat brushes her cheek and fans upwards and outover the top of the armrest.

Lady Campbell’s right arm is held out and touchesher hip forming an elegant curve, the fingerselongated towards the left edge of the painting. Herupper arm is glimpsed through the net of the sleeve.A yellow flower in her décolletage and three palebut warm pink roses at her right breast alleviatesthe black satin of Lady Campbell’s dress. Her legs


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are bent and slightly parted, the knees beneath theshiny fabric of the evening dress are turned to herleft.

The artist has exaggerated the forward thrust of herknees so that the legs appear out of proportion toher head and body. The feet in dainty black high-heeled shoes peep out from below her gown in theleft corner of the painting further enhancing thelength of her legs.

The flamboyant zig-zag rhythm carried through thecontorted pose is set off by the graceful verticalcurve of the arm rest on her left side and thesweeping curve of her right arm.




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Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 – 94

By Sir William Blake Richmond (1842 – 1921)Oil on canvas, 188629 x 22 in. (73.7 x 55.9 cm)

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 94) wrote storiesand essays remarkable for their style, charm andhumour. He is best known as the author of suchclassics as ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and MrHyde’, ‘Kidnapped’ and ‘Treasure Island’. Hesuffered from ill health but travelled widely and spentthe last years of his life in the South Sea Islands.

This portrait was painted in one sitting, atRichmond’s house, on a hot afternoon in August1886, amid a jovial company including SidneyColvin, Edward Burne-Jones and Burne-Jones’sdaughter, Margaret. Margaret recalled their livelyconversation, ‘They discussed suicide; comparednotes as to their feelings towards policemen; toldghost stories and most of the time Mr Richmondpainted and Mr Stevenson sat easily talking,smoking and drinking coffee’.

Stevenson leans back in a chair to the right of thepainting. His head is positioned centrally in theupper half of the picture, inclined towards our left.

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His gaunt, sallow face is oval in shape. Paintedwith a light touch, it is the most fully realisedelement in the composition. Some white dabs ofpaint suggest the reflection of light on a highforehead. A streak of light helps to define a narrow,straight nose. Stevenson’s eyes are arresting;hollow and large, almost black with dark circlesbeneath. Richmond has emphasised the shape ofthe eyes against the translucent skin with somedelicate thin black lines. Stevenson’s expression islively and enquiring but at the same timethoughtful. A faint smile plays on his full lips. Hishair is black and long, nearly shoulder length andtucked behind his left ear. His moustache is alighter brown. The ends of the moustache curl up,suggested by a few wisps of paint.

His chin casts a shadow on a brilliant white shirtcollar. The tie is a rust red patch contrasting withthe blue-black of his coat. The coat is painted withvigorous marks. Paint is scrubbed into the canvasand a few rapid white lines convey the collar of thecoat, the right sleeve and the edge of Stevenson’sright arm where Richmond has redefined itsposition. A faint diagonal smear describes theshape of the chair and the back of the chair


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behind his left shoulder is composed of a narrow,horizontal, yellow brown ochre area. The backgroundspace is divided into sketchily painted rectangles.The largest extends behind Stevenson’s head,almost half way across the painting from the left sideand reaches to just below his right shoulder. It isochre in colour with a darker brown area whereStevenson’s head casts a shadow. Next to this thereis a narrower rectangle, which picks up the colour ofhis tie. An area of pale grey completes thebackground at the right edge. These abstract shapesframe Stevenson and counterbalance the tiltedposition of his head.




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The Turn of the Century

Augustus Edwin John 1878 – 1961

By Sir Jacob Epstein (1880 – 1959)Bronze bust, 191614 in. (35.6 cm) high

Augustus Edwin John (1878 – 1961) was a painterborn in Tenby in South Wales who became aleading figure in the London avant-garde of theearly twentieth century. Augustus John’s sisterGwen was a fellow student at the Slade School ofArt in the 1890s and also achieved widespreadrecognition as an artist. Augustus John had anextravagantly flamboyant personality and cultivatedan extremely bohemian lifestyle. He eventually livedpeaceably with two women, continually paintingthem and their seven children. He was familiar withavant-garde artists in Paris and knew those in thecircle of Picasso. He participated in the meetings ofthe Camden Town Group and showed in their firstexhibition in June 1911. In the 1920s he was aleading portrait painter whose sitters includedThomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw and T. E.Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’).

Cast in blackened bronze, the imposing head ofAugustus John was first sensitively modelled in

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clay. The surface is roughly pitted because themodelling was not smoothed over. It is an almostlife-size likeness of the head and neck as they risenaked from just above the shoulder. The entire leftcollarbone is included while the sculpture endsimmediately beside the neck on the right. The nakedleft collarbone conveys informality. Augustus John’shead narrows from a wide low dome and high widecheekbones under a wide unruly mop of centrallyparted hair. This mop hangs thick and bushy aroundhis large ears with their deep round hollows. At theback his hair tapers sharply to his strong verticalneck. John’s eyes are long horizontal almondshapes with the right eye narrower than the left.They combine with his cheekbones and his heavywide angular eyebrows to convey an air of serenityand defiance. A robust medium length nose with astrong bridge arches forward boldly, bent over to hisleft. His gaunt lower cheeks and long firm chin carryan untidy forest of beard under the thick moustachewhich hides his mouth and rises as it spreads outwide. This is not an idealised image of perfectproportions but a forceful figure full of irregularityand unruly vitality.

Shortly before the time of this portrait, while serving


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as a war artist at the Western Front, AugustusJohn was allowed to retain his facial hair and witha more fully rounded beard he was easilymistaken for King George V by the troops.




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Sir Edmund William Gosse 1849 – 1928

By John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925)Oil on canvas, 188621 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (54.6 x 44.5 cm)

Edmund Gosse (1849 – 1928) was a poet, writerand critic. As a poet, he became involved in thecircle of the Pre-Raphaelites and became a closefriend of Algernon Swinburne. Gosse introducedHenrik Ibsen to the English public, translating two ofhis plays. He also introduced the work of the Frenchwriter André Gide and was honoured by theAcadémie Française for his services to Frenchliterature. However he is best remembered as theauthor of ‘Father and Son’ which contains an acutepsychological study of his own father; a dedicatednaturalist and puritanical Christian. Gosse heldposts as a librarian and translator in the BritishMuseum, the Board of Trade and the House ofLords Library; published many volumes of verse,criticism and biography and he became one of themost influential literary figures of the age. He wasknighted in 1925. Gosse and Sargent first met in1885 at Broadway in Worcestershire, where bothwere part of a summer community of artists andwriters. Sargent apparently gave this portrait to his

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fellow painter, Alfred Parsons, who was also amember of the Broadway set. Sargent has painteda head and shoulders portrait of Edmund Gossewith broad sweeps of the brush and a light informaltouch. There is a feeling of animated intimacy andfresh encounter with the sitter. Details aresuggested loosely rather than dwelt upon minutely.Against an atmospheric mushroom greybackground Edmund Gosse has a delicate palecomplexion and engages you with a friendlyattentive gaze. His haircut of warm brown hair isparted at the centre of the high wide dome of hisforehead and sweeps back over his ears on eitherside. His straight brown eyebrows gently slant downtowards the bridge of his nose above large green-grey eyes. They look at you with a sparkle ofintimacy. He wears very fine light spectacles withhorizontal oval lenses in thin silver frames. Underhis short straight nose a walrus moustachesurrounds his full lips above a clean shaven squarechin. A light blue bow tie holds the loose white collarat the base of his long neck. He wears a blackwaistcoat under a very pale mushroom brownjacket. The left shoulder and the right upper arm ofEdmund Gosse both disappear beyond the edges


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of the painting on either side. This adds strongly tothe sense of being very close to him.




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Spencer Frederick Gore 1878 – 1914

By Spencer Frederick Gore (1878 – 1914)Oil on canvas, 191416 1/8 x 12 in. (41x 30.5 cm)

Spencer Gore (1878 – 1914) was a painter whobecame a leading figure in the London art scenejust before World War I. As a young man in 1877 hisfather had won the first ever Wimbledon TennisChampionship. Spencer Gore trained at the SladeSchool of Art on Gower Street and developed astyle associated with the French Impressionists andPost- Impressionists. Gore worked in Paris andDieppe from 1904 to 1906 and was familiar withtheir work. This was at a time when the British pressgenerated much hostility towards such artists asMonet, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. WhenRoger Fry organised the Post-Impressionistexhibition in 1910 a vitriolic attack by the Britishpress prompted London artists to make a standtogether. Spencer Gore became the president ofThe Camden Town Group. Their name declared theaim of expressing the intimate character and colourof local reality. In the attempt to convey the fleetingbustle of everyday life, the group style favoured boldstatements of shape and colour and emphasised

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rapid brushwork. The Camden Town Group soonmerged with others to form the London Group.

In March 1914 Spencer Gore died of pneumonia atthe age of thirty-five. There is a look of alert andwide eyed innocence on his gaunt angular face.This self-portrait at the age of thirty-five, shows theartist’s head and shoulders in an interior with hisshadowed right cheek towards us. Only the left sideof his face catches the light. The inquisitive gaze ofhis deeply set dark blue-grey eyes is held bysomething above you and to your left.

He still looks boyish, with his simple ‘short-back-and-sides’ haircut, big ears and rather humbleappearance. He wears a commonplace white shirt,narrow blue tie, and dark jacket or blazer. His facialfeatures have a heightened brittle physicality. Hisnose has a slender violet ridge that catches a ray oflight in front of the dark pools of his eyes. The wayeach facet of his bony face catches the light at adifferent angle is portrayed with distinct patches ofcolour. These are yellow, pink and violet in lighterareas with darker tones of red and violet in theshadows. The shadows of his large angular rightear are defined by a few bold red marks. The


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background on his right shows the wall of the roomas a broad expanse of light tobacco brown colour.There is a shallow alcove on his left where the lightentering the room falls strongly on a large radiantdecorative image containing rectangular shapes ofblue and violet with orange floral dabs and patchesof vibrant yellow. It resembles a Japanese scrollpainting of the kind Van Gogh also treasured.




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Robert Polhill Bevan 1865 – 1925

By Robert Polhill Bevan (1865 – 1925)Oil on canvas, about 1913 – 1418 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

This is a self-portrait by the British artist RobertPolhill Bevan (1865 – 1925). In the 1890s Bevanstudied Velázquez and Goya in Spain beforeworking for several years in France. He metGauguin and Renoir at Pont-Aven in 1894 and sawthe work of Cézanne. Bevan settled in London in1900, and became a founder member of theCamden Town Group in 1911. Street scenes, cabyards and horse sales dominate his subject matter.As a companion to this self-portrait he also paintedthe portrait of his wife Stanislawa.

In this head and shoulders self-portrait RobertBevan stands in his studio, the front room of aVictorian house. He has receding brown hair partedon the right in a shortback- and-side cut. Bevan issideways-on at the right of the painting with his leftside towards you and his back hidden by the pictureframe. He wears a white raised collar with a velvetydark bow-tie and a violet grey jacket. The darkbrown wood of a doorframe runs along the extreme

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left edge of the painting.

In the centre of the room beyond the artist’s rightshoulder a stack of framed paintings leans againstthe panelled lower section of the back wall. Thepale shapes of unframed drawings are displayedacross the light grey upper section of the wall. Highon the wall to his left a reddish wooden clock sits ona narrow shelf.

Bevan turns his agile bony face to scrutinise youintently with dark blue-grey eyes. His left eye isnearest, at the centre of the painting, and he frownswith bold angular brown eyebrows. The light entersthe room from behind him and bathes his left ear,his left cheek and this side of his nose with a warmpink glow. In the shade around his eye and on thefar side of his face there are cool violet and greenaccents. These colours are delicate, but the anglesand edges of his features are accented withintermittent bold outlines. This heightens thesculptural quality of the portrait. Every colour isapplied with a clear and fluent brush mark. Thepicture creates an elegant contrast between warmred accents and the cool violet and green greys ofhis jacket and the blue-grey studio wall. The reds


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Documents

The Victorians Introduction: Queen Victoria · PDF fileThe Victorians Introduction: Queen Victoria Under the robe she wears a low-cut white dress like a wedding dress, transparent