Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
(1781-1841), SculptorRegency 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.
by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
pencil and grey wash, circa 1800
NPG 2103a
by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
chalk, circa 1802
NPG 654
by John Raphael Smith
pastel, probably 1818
NPG 5380
by Eden Upton Eddis
chalk, 1838
NPG 1731
by William Bain
bronze medal, 1825
NPG D42247
by Henry Bone, after John Jackson
pencil drawing squared in ink for transfer, 1831 (exhibited 1830)
NPG D17472
by Thomas Fairland, published by Marseille Middleton Holloway, after Henry Weekes
lithograph, published 6 December 1841 (1839)
NPG D20286
by Charles Turner, after Sir Henry Raeburn
mezzotint, published 1843
NPG D32855
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
bronze medal, 1843
NPG D2912
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