Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(1809-1892), Poet LaureateAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 97 portraits
Born in Lincolnshire, Tennyson studied in Louth before attending Trinity College, Cambridge. His early life and poetry were greatly affected by the unexpected death of his friend Arthur Hallam, his elegy to whom, In Memoriam, secured his fame. Tennyson was Britain's longest-serving Poet Laureate and the most popular poet of his age. On being awarded a barony by Queen Victoria in 1883, he became the first British writer to be raised to the Peerage. Tennyson's poetry is celebrated for its lyricism and psychological intensity. His Arthurian poems such as The Lady of Shalott (1832) and Idylls of the King (1859) inspired Pre-Raphaelite artists, while those in dialect retain the language of his Lincolnshire youth.
by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, published by Goupil & Co
etching, published 1 December 1879
NPG D40523
by Thomas Oldham Barlow, published by Fine Art Society Ltd, after Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt
mixed-method engraving, published 1 May 1882 (1881)
NPG D34498
after Amedée Forestier, after Elliott & Fry
photolithograph, published 19 January 1884
NPG D40521
by Harry Edwin
silhouette, circa 1887-1895
NPG D537
by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, published by Berlin Photographic Co
photogravure, published 1901
NPG D40524
by Frank Short, after George Frederic Watts
mezzotint, 1903 (1859)
NPG D34497
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
issued by Sarony & Co, after M. Arnault, after John Jabez Edwin Mayall
gravure cigarette card, 1924 (late 19th century, based on a work of 1864)
NPG D48932
by Unknown artist
watercolour
NPG D111
by Henry Herschel Hay Cameron (later The Cameron Studio)
albumen print, 1890
NPG x7955
by Walker & Boutall, and John Jabez Edwin Mayall
photogravure
NPG x26797
by James Stephenson, after George Frederic Watts
line engraving, published 1874
NPG D20483
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