Thomas Carlyle
(1795-1881), Historian and essayist; Trustee of the National Portrait GalleryEarly Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter associated with 94 portraits
In his 1841 book, 'On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in Society', Carlyle claimed 'the history of the world is but the biography of great men.' He believed history was made by great individuals and advocated for the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery. Born in Scotland, Carlyle was influenced by German Romanticism and enjoyed lecturing and writing on German literature, promoting Schiller and Goethe to a British public. In 1834 he moved to London and began writing a history of the French Revolution. A respected historian, his ideas were influential at the time, however during the revolutionary decade of the 1840s he expressed controversial views that were met with widespread disapproval. In 1849 he published a racist essay called 'Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question' voicing his opposition to human rights. When he supported the repressive measures used in Jamaica to suppress the Morant Bay Rebellion, his liberal friends deserted him.
by Richard James Lane, after Alfred, Count D'Orsay
lithograph with some hand-colouring, (May 1839)
NPG D46232
by Richard James Lane, published by John Mitchell, after Alfred, Count D'Orsay
lithograph, published 18 June 1839 (May 1839)
NPG D2020
Thomas Carlyle ('Men of the Day no. 12.')
by Carlo Pellegrini
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 22 October 1870
NPG D32681
Thomas Carlyle ('Men of the Day no. 12.')
by Carlo Pellegrini
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 22 October 1870
NPG D43454
Thomas Carlyle ('The Chelsea Philosopher')
published by Frederick Arnold, after Unknown artist
lithograph, published in the Hornet 17 January 1872
NPG D48271
after Helen Mabel Trevor
aquatint, 1875
NPG D2021
published by The Graphic, after Helen Allingham
wood engraving, published 15 July 1876
NPG D32680
by Edwin Roffe, published by Virtue & Co, after Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Bt
stipple, 1878
NPG D49713
by Sir Hubert von Herkomer
mezzotint, 1881
NPG D32682
by William Brassey Hole
etching, published 1884
NPG D40232
published by The Medici Society Ltd, after James Abbott McNeill Whistler
chromolithograph, published 1911
NPG D32683
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