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Sir Sidney Colvin

(1845-1927), Art and literary scholar and museum administrator

Sitter in 7 portraits
Sidney Colvin was a literary and art critic. A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, he became a fellow of his college in 1868. In 1873 he was Slade professor of fine art, and was appointed in the next year to the directorship of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Colvin moved to London in 1884 on being appointed keeper of prints and drawings in the British Museum. His chief publications included lives of Landor (1881) and Keats (1887), in the English Men of Letters series. In the field both of art and of literature, Colvin's fine taste, wide knowledge and high ideals made his authority and influence extend far beyond his published work.

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Sir Sidney Colvin

by William Rothenstein
lithograph, 1897
NPG 3999

Sir Sidney Colvin

by Walter Stoneman, for James Russell & Sons
bromide print, circa 1916
NPG Ax46101

Sir Sidney Colvin

by Walter Stoneman
bromide print, 1924
NPG x162429

Sir Sidney Colvin

by Walter Stoneman
negative, 1924
NPG x31553

Sir Sidney Colvin

by Walter Stoneman
negative, 1924
NPG x31554

Sir Sidney Colvin

by Walter Stoneman
whole-plate glass negative, 1924
NPG x162367

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Sir Sidney Colvin

by Unknown photographer
photogravure
NPG x6333

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London

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Sir Sidney Colvin

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