2 OF 13

Sir Leslie Stephen

2 of 13 portraits of Sir Leslie Stephen

Sir Leslie Stephen

by Sir William Rothenstein
chalk, 1903
7 in. x 5 in. (178 mm x 127 mm)
Purchased, 1925
Primary Collection
NPG 2098

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Sitterback to top

Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), Writer, philosopher and mountaineer; first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. Sitter in 13 portraits.

Artistback to top

Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945), Artist and teacher of art. Artist associated with 219 portraits, Sitter in 24 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Rothenstein recalled drawing Stephen, at his home in 22 Hyde Park Gate, with reverence: 'I felt awed in his presence…I was engaged on an almost sacred task'. Leslie Stephen's daughters both wrote about the sketch. Virginia Woolf felt it made her father seem 'more worn and sad than I remembered' but Vanessa Bell commended it as being 'more like my father than anything else that has been done of him'.