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Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

(1781-1841), Sculptor

Regency Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter in 11 portraits
Artist associated with 267 portraits
Though destined to become one of the most famous sculptors of his age, Chantrey began life as a painter. In his memoirs the artist Charles Robert Leslie remembered Chantrey as 'handsome (his mouth exceedingly beautiful) with a bluff John Bull look'. The most outstanding sculptor of his generation, Chantrey executed portrait busts, public monuments and memorials. His success was the result of his study of character, combining direct observation with simplicity of form. Chantrey had little formal training. He was born of a poor family in Sheffield and only established himself in fashionable society in 1809 when he married into money and set up a studio in London. In 1811, the exhibition of his bust of the radical John Horne Tooke made his name. For the rest of his life Chantrey never wanted for commissions. He left a fortune to the National Gallery for the promotion of contemporary British art.

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Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, by Thomas Phillips - NPG 86

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

by Thomas Phillips
oil on panel, 1818
On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 86

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, by Henry Bone, after  John Jackson - NPG D17472

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

by Henry Bone, after John Jackson
pencil drawing squared in ink for transfer, 1831 (exhibited 1830)
NPG D17472

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, by Thomas Fairland, published by  Marseille Middleton Holloway, after  Henry Weekes - NPG D20286

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

by Thomas Fairland, published by Marseille Middleton Holloway, after Henry Weekes
lithograph, published 6 December 1841 (1839)
NPG D20286

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, by Charles Turner, after  Sir Henry Raeburn - NPG D32855

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

by Charles Turner, after Sir Henry Raeburn
mezzotint, published 1843
NPG D32855

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, by Charles Turner, after  Sir Henry Raeburn - NPG D32856

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

by Charles Turner, after Sir Henry Raeburn
mezzotint, published 1843
NPG D32856

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey; James Watt (on reverse), by William Wyon, after  William Bain, and after  Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey - NPG D2912

Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey; James Watt (on reverse)

by William Wyon, after William Bain, and after Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
bronze medal, 1843
NPG D2912

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