Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson

Sitterback to top

• Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (1809-1892), Poet Laureate. Sitter in 86 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Thomas Woolner (1825-1892), Sculptor and poet. Artist associated with 23 portraits, Sitter associated with 27 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner met Tennyson in the late 1840s and made a first, unsuccessful, medallion portrait of him in 1850. The type here is one of a number of casts based on a medallion which Woolner began while staying with the Tennysons at Farringford on the Isle of Wight in 1855. It was widely admired by the poet's family and friends, Browning thinking that 'no likeness could possibly be better', James Spedding calling it 'magnificent', and Tennyson's wife Emily praised its 'delicate yet lofty beauty'. The image became widely known when an engraving of it appeared on the frontispiece to the first illustrated edition of Tennyson's Poems in 1857.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Marsh, Jan, Insights: The Pre-Raphaelite Circle, 2005, p. 13
• Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 452
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 608
• Truss, Lynne, Character Sketches: Tennyson and His Circle, 1999, p. 19

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (30 March 2009 - 15 November 2009)

Subject/Themeback to top

• Medals and medallions