Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(1809-1892), Poet LaureateAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 97 portraits
Born in Lincolnshire, Tennyson studied in Louth before attending Trinity College, Cambridge. His early life and poetry were greatly affected by the unexpected death of his friend Arthur Hallam, his elegy to whom, In Memoriam, secured his fame. Tennyson was Britain's longest-serving Poet Laureate and the most popular poet of his age. On being awarded a barony by Queen Victoria in 1883, he became the first British writer to be raised to the Peerage. Tennyson's poetry is celebrated for its lyricism and psychological intensity. His Arthurian poems such as The Lady of Shalott (1832) and Idylls of the King (1859) inspired Pre-Raphaelite artists, while those in dialect retain the language of his Lincolnshire youth.
attributed to James Spedding
pencil, circa 1831
NPG 3940
by Samuel Laurence, and Sir Edward Burne-Jones
oil on canvas, circa 1840
NPG 2460
by Thomas Woolner
plaster cast of medallion, 1856
NPG 3847
by Mary Grant, after Thomas Woolner
marble bust, 1893, based on a work of 1857
NPG 947
by James Mudd
albumen print, 1861
NPG P34
by M. Arnault, after a photograph by John Jabez Edwin Mayall
chalk, late 19th century, based on a work of 1864
NPG 970
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print, 1865
NPG P285
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print, 1867
NPG P284
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print, 3 June 1869
NPG P9
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print, 1869
NPG P124
by Thomas Woolner
plaster cast of bust, 1873
NPG 1667
by William Henry Margetson, after a photograph by Herbert Rose Barraud
watercolour, 1891, based on a work of 1882
NPG 4343
by Francis John Williamson
plaster cast of bust, 1893
NPG 1178
published by T. Fisher Unwin, after George Frederic Watts
photogravure, published 1893 (1859)
NPG Ax199209
by William Jeffrey
albumen print, early 1860s
NPG x12998
by James Mudd
albumen print, early 1860s
NPG x7950
after James Mudd
albumen carte-de-visite, (1861)
NPG Ax18237
by James Mudd
albumen print, 1861
NPG x8005
after James Mudd
woodburytype, 1870s (1861)
NPG Ax7608
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