5 OF 61 
Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban
5 of 61 portraits of Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban
Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban
by Elkington & Co, cast by Domenico Brucciani, after Unknown artist
electrotype, circa 1875 (1630s)
60 in. (1524 mm) high
Purchased, 1875
Primary Collection
NPG 408
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Sitterback to top
- Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban (1561-1626), Philosopher and Lord Chancellor. Sitter associated with 61 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Domenico Brucciani (1815-1880). Artist associated with 23 portraits.
- Elkington & Co. Artist associated with 22 portraits.
- Unknown artist. Artist associated with 6232 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This electrotype is a copy from the marble tomb effigy in St Michael's Church, St Albans. The seated formula is rare among the iconography of Elizabethan and Jacobean tomb effigies. It depicts Bacon as the musing melancholic philosopher. It is one of a series of electrotype reproductions of tomb effigies made for the National Portrait Gallery by Elkington & Co in the 1870s. An electrotype sculpture of this type is made by electro-deposition of copper onto a mould or cast of an object. The electrotype could then be patinated like bronze.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Nicholl, Charles, Character Sketches: Elizabethan Writers, 1997, p. 55
- Nicholl, Charles, Insights: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, 2005, p. 94
- Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 68
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 27
- Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 12
Exhibitions and displays
- Queens and Consorts: Likeness in Life and Death
From 12 June
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