Sir George Scharf

Inscriptionback to top

Inscr., signed and dated in pencil lower right-hand corner: ‘from 11 A.M. to 12.45 P.M. / GS. 19th June 1887.’;
and inscr. in pencil at right: ‘at XII glory. / Commandts [?] / at 11.55’.

This portraitback to top

NPG 4053(2) and NPG 4053(3) are both dated 19 June 1887 and inscribed with the hours Scharf worked on them. His diary entry for that Sunday:

Very hot indeed. Therm above summer heat. 77o. Heavy coughing after breakfast. […] At 11 o’clock I placed two looking glasses in the window of my bedroom & began to sketch myself in profile from opposite sides. I went on till 1 o’clock. I had only blunt lead pencils & had lost my knife. [1]

This is not such a finished head as NPG 4053(1), which was drawn a few days later. Both are part of the collection NPG 4053(1–19), ‘Drawings by Sir George Scharf, circa 1867–87’.

Carol Blackett-Ord

Footnotesback to top

1) Sir George Scharf Papers (Personal diary 1887, NPG7/3/1/44, NPG Archive).

Physical descriptionback to top

Bust and head three-quarters to left, looking to left, right hand holding pencil, drawing board in left hand.

Conservationback to top

Conserved, late 20th century (no date).

Provenanceback to top

Scharf Bequest, 1895.

View all known portraits for Sir George Scharf