James Martineau

Inscriptionback to top

Dated in pencil (bottom right): Dec 2^nd/87
Inscribed in pencil on the original mounting paper: By Clara Martineau

This portraitback to top

Clara Martineau, the wife of Basil Martineau, was the daughter-in-law of the sitter. The NPG drawing came from an album of sketches, the rest of which were all by Helen Allingham. According to the donor (letter of 29 January 1932, NPG archives), this drawing of Martineau was very similar to the sketches of him by Mrs Allingham (one of these, dated 1891, is at Manchester College, Oxford):

'We possess one of these sketches & we gave one to Miss Worthington of Bowden Cheshire who knew Dr Martineau & who said the likeness was admirable. The sketch by Clara Martineau shows Dr Martineau a trifle heavier looking than he appears in my mother in law's work (my mother in law caught the beautiful delicacy of the face), but the sketches are very similar - & the pose (profile) just about the same.'
According to the artist's sister, Mrs Flight (letter of 5 February 1932, NPG archives), Clara Martineau executed several other drawings and paintings of Dr Martineau; a pastel drawing of 1899 and a pencil drawing by Clara, the latter very similar to, and possibly a study for, NPG 2526, and a pastel drawing by Edith Martineau, are in the Doctor William's Library, London, the first reproduced The Life and Letters of James Martineau, edited J. Drummond and C. B. Upton (1902), II, frontispiece.

Provenanceback to top

Mrs Helen Allingham(?); presented by her daughter-in-law, Mrs E. G. Allingham, 1932.

Exhibitionsback to top

Possibly RA, 1900 (1577).


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 James Martineau