Seamus Heaney
(1939-2013), Poet and Nobel Prize winnerSeamus Justin Heaney
Sitter in 24 portraits
Seamus Heaney was born at Mossbawn, and lived in Dublin from 1976 until his death. His publications include Death of a Naturalist (1966), Door into the Dark (1969), The Haw Lantern (1987) and The Spirit Level (1996). His modern translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, won him a second Whitbread Book of the Year Prize in 2000. Heaney held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1989 until 1994 and Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard from 1985 to 1998. He was selected for numerous awards and honours including the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and the Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award in 2012.
Watch a film clip on the sitter from the BBC Archive in the Media section below
by Peter Edwards
oil on canvas, 1987-1988
NPG 6023
by Ross Wilson
charcoal and pencil, surface worked, 1994
NPG 6261
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(1)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(2)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(3)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(4)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(5)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(6)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(7)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(8)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(9)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(10)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(11)
by Ross Wilson
ink and watercolour, 1994
NPG 6262(12)
by Tai-Shan Schierenberg
oil on canvas, 2004
NPG 6703
Marie Heaney (née Devlin); Seamus Heaney; Michael Heaney; Christopher Heaney
by Rollie McKenna
bromide print, 1969
NPG x137184
Tell us more back to top
Can you tell us more about this person? Spotted an error, information that is missing (a sitter’s life dates, occupation or family relationships, or a date of portrait for example) or do you know anything that we don't know? If you have information to share please complete the form below.
If you require information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service. You can buy a print of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at £6 for unframed prints, £25 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, please use our Rights and Images service.
Please note that we cannot provide valuations.
We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Get Creative
Develop your art skills
Discover our BP Next Generation short films made by artists. Follow step by step guides in drawing and painting techniques.
Hold Still photography workshop
Reflect on your own experiences of lockdown through this easy-to-do from home, photographic exercise.
Draw Like a Renaissance Master
Revisit The Encounter exhibition and learn about Renaissance and Baroque drawing methods and materials.