George Eliot
1 portrait of George Eliot
© National Portrait Gallery, London
George Eliot
by Laura Theresa (née Epps), Lady Alma-Tadema
pencil, 1877
4 in. x 4 1/2 in. (102 mm x 114 mm)
Given by Sir Edmund William Gosse, 1915
Primary Collection
NPG 1758
Sitterback to top
- George Eliot (Mary Ann Cross (née Evans)) (1819-1880), Novelist. Sitter associated with 12 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Laura Theresa (née Epps), Lady Alma-Tadema (1852-1909), Painter; second wife of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema; daughter of George Napoleon Epps. Artist or producer of 2 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 199
Events of 1877back to top
Current affairs
Trial of social activists Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh following their publication of a book by the American birth-control campaigner Charles Knowlton, which suggested that working class families should be able to practice birth control. Although found guilty, the case was thrown out on a technical fault.Art and science
The Grosevenor Gallery opens, founded by Sir Coutts Lindsay, as a rival to the Royal Academy. It exhibited work by artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane, outside of the British mainstream, and became famous as the home of the Aesthetic movement.The first Lawn Tennis Championship is held at Wimbledon with around 20 male competitors, witnessed by a few hundred spectators. Spencer Gore the first singles champion, wins 12 guineas.
International
The American inventor Thomas Edison invents the tin foil phonograph, combining the technologies of the telegraph and telephone. Experimenting with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, he recorded and played back the short message 'Mary had a little lamb'.Comments back to top
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