Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch
1 portrait matching these criteria:
- npg number matching '5921'
Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch
by Tom Phillips
oil on canvas, 1984-1986
36 in. x 28 in. (914 mm x 711 mm)
Commissioned, 1987
Primary Collection
NPG 5921
Sitter
Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), Novelist and philosopher. Sitter in 24 portraits.
Artist
Tom Phillips (1937-), Artist. Artist of 22 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.
This Portrait
The portrait was painted in the artist's London studio. In the background is a detail from Titian's Flaying of Marsyas, a painting exhibited at the Royal Academy at the time artist and sitter met and the subject of conversations between them. Phillips described Murdoch as 'a luminous presence…an electric light-bulb in that gloomy corner, glowing, casting out darkness'.
Related Works
NPG 5944(1): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(2): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(3): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(4): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(5): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(6): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(7): Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch (study)
NPG 5944(8): Study of 'The Flaying of Marsyas' by Titian (study)
Linked Publications
Sound Guide
The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 222
Gibson, Robin; Clerk, Honor, 20th Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1993, p. 7
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: an illustrated guide, 2000, p. 222
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 222
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 449
Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 190
Subjects & Themes
Allegory in portraits
Commissions - Paintings and Drawings
Portraits with Archive documents
On display in Room 32 at the National Portrait Gallery
