Anna Brownell Jameson (née Murphy)

Inscriptionback to top

Incised at the side: J. GIBSON. FECIT. ROMAE.
Incised on the marble pedestal: ANNA JAMESON./1794-1860./A DISTINGUISHED CRITIC,/AND WRITER UPON ART./ENDOWED WITH POETIC GENIUS/AND/A VIGOROUS UNDERSTANDING,/SHE THREW NEW LIGHT/ON THE CHRISTIAN LEGENDS/WHICH INSPIRED/THE PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS OF THE PAST,/AND AWAKENED/A CLEARER COMPREHENSION/OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY/IN ART/AS WELL AS IN NATURE./IN HER LATER YEARS/SHE ROUSED PUBLIC ATTENTION/TO THE SUFFERINGS OF EDUCATED WOMEN,/VAINLY ENDEAVOURING TO EARN/A COMPETENCY,/AND TO THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVING/THEIR CONDITION;/BY REMOVING UNFAIR OBSTACLES,/AND BY RENDERING/LABOUR AS HONOURABLE AS WEALTH./THIS BUST/IS ERECTED BY THOSE/WHO ESTEEM/HER GENIUS AND VIRTUE,/AMONG WHOM IS HER FRIEND/THE SCULPTOR,/WHO EXECUTED THE WORK IN HER HONOUR -/JOHN GIBSON, R.A., OF ROME.

This portraitback to top

The idea of commemorating Mrs Jameson by a bust originated with her friend, Miss Susan Homer, who organized the fund, [1] and wrote to Gibson asking him to accept the commission. He replied on 29 May 1860 from Rome, apologizing for his delay in answering (NPG archives):

'It will give me great pleasure to meet your wishes as well as of those friends of the late M^rs Jameson to erect a memorial to her memory. It is but rarely I consent to give up my time to a bust, I have charged £150 for a bust in Mar. but upon this occasion I will execute a bust of M^rs Jameson for the sum of fifty pounds. She had a friendship for me & had honored me in print.
I think the expence of carriage to England would be 5 or 6 pounds. I don't know what would be the cost of a pedestal to place it upon, that had better be done in London.'
Miss Homer also wrote to Sir Charles Lyell, asking if the bust, when finished, could be put on public exhibition at the South Kensington Museum, and he replied on 22 June 1860 (NPG archives):

'I have a promise that "the bust of the late Mrs Jameson by Gibson R.A. shall be placed in the corridors to be appropriated to memorial Sculpture on the grounds of the Royal Commission of 1851 at South Kensington". also that if the place for it is not finished or ready it shall provisionally be put into the room of sculpture - The Prince [Albert] wishes in this & other cases that there should be inscribed on the pedestal not only the name but some statement of the merits of the individual commemorated which he thinks too much neglected in our public statues, the people requiring instruction.'
Miss Homer accordingly devised an inscription, and sent a printed copy to Gibson, [2] who wrote on 10 August 1860 (NPG archives):

'Your inscription cannot be better. As to the expence of pedestal, cutting letters & putting up I cannot say but when I return to London M^r Theeds mason will tell us.
M^r Theeds's man was to call for the cast of your profile of M^rs Jameson which will be of use to me - I shall keep it for yr own sake.'
On 13 April 1861, Gibson wrote to Miss Homer about the progress of the bust (NPG archives):

'When yr letter arrived I had not begun to model the bust of M^rs Jameson. As Lady Annabella's departure was approaching I at once began the work that she might see it. Her Ladyship thought it like. I finished thenmodel on 9th inst & wrote a note to M^rs Bate the sister of M^rs Jameson, who came & thought it very like & praised the style & expression. Williams the painter has been (She also said that it is a strong likeness for he knew her well.
M^r Browning the poet has been & remained before the bust for a long time, he gave me praise for the likeness, the expression & style, he was her intimate friend…I like the inscription very much. I am not able to find fault with it, I feel complimented by the last paragraph.
I do not think that the bust can be finished in marble before my departure, for I think of leaving Rome about the middle of June, when I come to London I shall see you & soon fix the time to model the bust of Sir Charles Lyell.'
The bust was finished by the autumn of 1862, and on 9 September Gibson, who was staying in London with the painter, William Boxall, agreed to go with Miss Homer to the South Kensington Museum to help place the bust. It remained there till 1883 when, upon Miss Homer's suggestion, it was transferred to the NPG (relevant correspondence, NPG archives). She had been upset to find the bust in a dark and neglected passage-way near the refreshment room. Miss Homer continued to take an active interest in the bust, complaining to Sir Lionel Gust, director of the NPG, in 1898 that the bust was rather inadequately displayed.

Footnotesback to top

1) A list of the subscribers is in the NPG.
2) According to the printed copy, the middle passage of the inscription was originally more general in its praise: 'HER LATER YEARS/WERE DEVOTED TO ALLEVIATE/THE SUFFERINGS,/AND TO IMPROVE THE/SOCIAL CONDITION OF WOMEN,/WHILST ENABLING THEM BEST/TO FULFIL THEIR VOCATION IN LIFE.'

Referenceback to top

Eastlake (ed.) 1870
Life of John Gibson, R.A., edited Lady Eastlake (1870), p 252.

MacPherson 1878
G. MacPherson, Memoirs of the Life of Anna Jameson (1878), p 241.

Mathews 1911
T. Mathews, The Biography of John Gibson, R.A. (1911), p 246.

Provenanceback to top

Commissioned by a body of subscribers, and presented to the South Kensington Museum, 1862; transferred to the NPG, 1883.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for John Gibson

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