6 OF 41

William Makepeace Thackeray

6 of 41 portraits of William Makepeace Thackeray

by Sir Edwin Henry 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

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William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), Novelist. Sitter in 41 portraits, Artist of 2 portraits.

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Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), Painter. Artist associated with 54 portraits, Sitter in 21 portraits.

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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.