William Makepeace Thackeray
1 portrait by Sir Edwin Landseer
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
William Makepeace Thackeray
by Sir Edwin Landseer
pen and ink and wash, 1857
4 5/8 in. x 3 7/8 in. (117 mm x 98 mm)
Purchased, 1955
Primary Collection
NPG 3925
Sitterback to top
- William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), Novelist. Sitter in 42 portraits, Artist or producer of 2 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 57 portraits, Sitter in 23 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This late drawing of the novelist W M Thackeray working by candlelight is a relatively rare example of Landseer producing caricatures of members of his literary circle rather than his aristocratic friends. Thackeray had regularly satirised Landseer's exhibits at the Royal Academy but they became friends in later years. Not long after this drawing, Landseer contributed an illustration of a black sheep for Thackeray's novel Lovel the Widower, published in the Cornhill Magazine, 1860.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 460
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 610
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Caricatures by Edwin Landseer (16 November 2009 - 23 May 2010)
Events of 1857back to top
Current affairs
Palmerston passes the Matrimonial Causes Act in the face of parliamentary opposition. The act establishes divorce courts, although women, unlike men, are not allowed to sue for divorce on the grounds of adultery.The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition is held, a follow-up to the Great Exhibition of 1851, although highlighting Britain's private art collections rather than industry and technology. More than 1.3 million people visit the event.
Art and science
Elizabeth Gaskell publishes The Life of Charlotte Brontë, a year after the author's death. The controversial biography consolidates the myth of the Brontë sisters as isolated geniuses living in remote Yorkshire.Illustrator George Scharf becomes the first Secretary of the National Portrait Gallery, overseeing the collection's growth and its several moves around London before a permanent home is established in 1896, the year after Scharf's death.
International
The Indian Revolt was a significant rebellion against the rule of the East Indian Company and a culmination of decades of discontent about British rule. After a year of horrific violence on both sides, the revolt was suppressed. It led to a more involved role by the British government in India, taking over responsibility from the East India Company.Comments back to top
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