Thomas Carlyle
(1795-1881), Historian and essayist; Trustee of the National Portrait GalleryEarly Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter associated with 94 portraits
In his 1841 book, 'On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in Society', Carlyle claimed 'the history of the world is but the biography of great men.' He believed history was made by great individuals and advocated for the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery. Born in Scotland, Carlyle was influenced by German Romanticism and enjoyed lecturing and writing on German literature, promoting Schiller and Goethe to a British public. In 1834 he moved to London and began writing a history of the French Revolution. A respected historian, his ideas were influential at the time, however during the revolutionary decade of the 1840s he expressed controversial views that were met with widespread disapproval. In 1849 he published a racist essay called 'Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question' voicing his opposition to human rights. When he supported the repressive measures used in Jamaica to suppress the Morant Bay Rebellion, his liberal friends deserted him.
by Fay, after Elliott & Fry
albumen cabinet card, circa 1880s (circa 1865)
NPG x197261
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen print on gold-edged cabinet, 1867
NPG x18037
by Julia Margaret Cameron
albumen carte-de-visite on gold-edged mount, 1867
NPG x18069
by Julia Margaret Cameron, published by T. Fisher Unwin
photogravure, published 1893 (1867)
NPG Ax29133
Thomas Carlyle; Ralph Emerson Forbes
by Unknown photographer
bromide copy print, 24 April 1872
NPG x45941
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, after 1873
NPG x27576
by John Patrick
albumen cabinet card, 1874?
NPG x3697
by (Octavius) Charles Watkins
woodburytype, 1875
NPG Ax7643
by (Octavius) Charles Watkins
woodburytype, 1875
NPG x5652
by (Octavius) Charles Watkins
woodburytype, 1875
NPG Ax5087
by Charles B. Praetorius
carbon cabinet card, circa 1876
NPG Ax5568
by Friedrich Bruckmann
woodburytype, 1876
NPG x46497
published by Hughes & Edmonds
albumen print, published 1876
NPG Ax132899
by Elliott & Fry, published by Bickers & Son
woodburytype on album page mount, published 1886
NPG Ax27810
Various writers, historians and philanthropists
by and after Elliott & Fry
bromide print, 1890s
NPG Ax139908
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen print
NPG Ax27876
by Elliott & Fry
half-plate negative
NPG x82137
published by James Fraser, after Daniel Maclise
lithograph, published 1833
NPG D2019
by John Carr (or James Charles) Armytage, published by Smith, Elder & Co, after Samuel Laurence
stipple engraving, (circa 1838)
NPG D15737
by Richard James Lane, after Alfred, Count D'Orsay
lithograph, (May 1839)
NPG D45950
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