John Gibson Lockhart
(1794-1854), Biographer and novelistSitter in 6 portraits
Literary journalist; a brilliant advocate of the tory point of view he contributed to Blackwood's Magazine in Edinburgh and later settled in London as editor of the Quarterly Magazine, 1825; best known for his biography of Sir Walter Scott, his father-in-law.; it is considered one of the most important works in the history of biography. Much of Lockhart's seven-volume work was based on his own intimate relationship with his subject, also his father-in-law. The biography was attacked by contemporaries for exposing Scott's faults, but it is now considered to be an idealised account of Scott's dazzling literary success, its honesty compromised 'by regard for the feelings of living persons' at the time of publication.
by Daniel Maclise
pen and ink, watercolour and pencil, corners diagonally cut, 1830
NPG 5514
after David Octavius Hill, and Robert Adamson
carbon print, 1843-1848; published 1928
NPG Ax29528
after Daniel Maclise
pen and ink, (published 1830)
NPG D34539
by George Thomas Doo, published by John Samuel Murray, after Henry William Pickersgill
line engraving, circa 1854
NPG D16137
by James Faed the Elder, after Sir Francis Grant
mezzotint, published 31 January 1856
NPG D3607
by James Faed the Elder, published by Henry Graves, after Sir Francis Grant
mezzotint, published 31 January 1856
NPG D20218
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