Charles Dickens

Sitterback to top

• Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Novelist. Sitter associated with 94 portraits.

Artistback to top

• (George) Herbert Watkins (1828-after 1901), Photographer. Artist associated with 255 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

The most famous and best loved of all Victorian novelists, Dickens was a highly prolific writer. The year of this photograph, between the completion of Little Dorrit and the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, was a momentous one for Dickens, for it was at this time he first became infatuated with the teenage actress, Ellen Ternan, and decided to separate from his wife. In the same period he began to give public readings from his works on a fully professional basis. Watkins's photograph shows him with the paraphernalia of the lecturer.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Rogers, Malcolm, Camera Portraits, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 October 1989 - 21 January 1990), p. 55
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 178

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• Charles Dickens: Life and Legacy (24 October 2011 - 22 April 2012)

Portrait setback to top

• The Watkins album: photographs by Herbert Watkins, late 1850s

Subject/Themeback to top

• On display at the Gallery