Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

By other artists
Photographs

By other artistsback to top

c.1830
?Oil by J.W. Reynolds, jr, Agnew as infant with his mother; family coll., formerly with Agnew’s eldest son, George William.

1867
Pen and ink sketch by Frederick Walker, whole-length, standing, profile to left; coll. Agnew’s. Repr. Marks 1896, p.111; Agnew 1967, p.28.

1870
Burnt cork and billiard chalk drawing by Henry Stacy Marks, half-length, playing billiards with Frederick Walker; on wall of billiard room at Agnew’s house, Summer Hill, Pendleton until 1914; presumed destroyed.

c.1870
Drawing by Frederick Walker, inscr. ‘Sir William Agnew (with lumbago) at Corrichorlie’, whole-length, reclining; untraced. Repr. London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, copy in NPG SB (Agnew.)

1877
Watercolour by E. Salomons, three-quarter-length, standing, in Agnew’s Bond St gallery; coll. Agnew’s. Repr. Agnew 1967, p.29; Bryant 2003, p.14.

1880s
Pen and ink drawing by Harry Furniss; see NPG 3413.

c.1882–3
Oil on canvas by William Powell Frith, A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, head only (no.21 on key); coll. C.J.R. Pope, on long-term loan to Leighton House, London, LH/TL/014. Exh. RA 1883 (163); repr. Gazette des Beaux-Arts, July/Aug. 1958, vol.6, p.87, no.4; Gaunt 1972, nos 144–5; Snow 1975, pp.168–9; Wood 1976, no.215; Bills & Knight 2006, p.70 (whole image), p.129 (detail); and Wood 2006, pl.11.
Also repr. by Henry Graves & Co. 1885 as photogravure, 588 x 983mm, and as lithograph, 226 x 443mm, with key to the principle figures; BM, London, 1920,0420.193 and 1920,0124.4 respectively.
An oil sketch for this work, 600 x 1140mm, signed and dated 'W P Frith 1882', is now in Mercer AG, Harrogate, HARAG 2490, but the portrait of Agnew is absent.
See also Agnew, Boehm, Calderon, Du Maurier, Frith, Irving, Langtry, Marks, Millais, Tenniel, Terry.

1883
Oil on canvas, 1012 x 1265mm, by Frank Holl, three-quarter-length, seated, profile to left, holding book; coll. Agnew’s. Exh. RA 1883 (1433) and RA Winter 1899 (218); repr. Treble 1978, p.44.

Oil study, 581 x 506mm, by Frank Holl, head-and-shoulders, full-face; coll. Agnew’s. Repr. Agnew 1967, p.31; Country Life, vol.149, 1966, p.1577; C. Gleadell, 'Market News: Agnew's Reborn',The Telegraph online (Luxury supplement), 4 Mar. 2014.

before 1886
Pen and ink drawing by Harry Furniss, Rapt Attention, whole-length, seated with legs crossed, full-face, in House of Commons; untraced. Repr. Furniss 1890a, p.12. Agnew left Parliament in 1886.
Possibly the same as the whole-length drawing ‘W. Agnew Ex M.P’ recorded as ‘Entry no.216’ in Furniss’s MS accounts ledger, NPG Archive (Furniss MS 116), for which the artist was paid 5 guineas.

1887
Drawing by Sydney Prior Hall, A great picture sale at Christies, half-length, seated, turning to left, in group; untraced. Repr. Graphic, 1887, p.281.

1888
Drawing by Thomas Walter Wilson, A Sale at Christies, whole-length, standing, in group; untraced. Engr. by R. Taylor repr. MA, 1888, p.229.

1889
Oil on canvas by Henry Jamyn Brooks; see NPG 1833.

publ. 1891
Pen and ink drawing by (Edward) Linley Sambourne for The Mahogany Tree, signed and dated June 1891, half-length, standing, profile to left, raising glass in right hand to ‘Mr Punch’ with 13 other men around dinner table; untraced, formerly coll. Sir William Agnew. Engr. by Swain repr. Punch, 18 July 1891 (jubilee issue), frontispiece; Spielmann 1895, frontispiece and p.536; and Ormond 2010, pp.230–31, fig.95. Exh. Punch 150 Anniversary Exhibition, RFH, London, 1991 (handlist no.30, not. ill.).
See also Du Maurier, Furniss, Keene, Sambourne, Tenniel.

before 1894
Black and sanguine chalk drawing with some white, 650 x 510mm, by George Frederic Watts, signed in black chalk lower left and inscr. in red below ‘To the family of my friend William Agnew 1894’, head-and-shoulders, half-profile to right; coll. Agnew’s, formerly with Philip Agnew. Exh. RA Winter 1905; repr. Bonhams, 2 Apr. 2008 (78).
From Agnew’s appearance, this would seem to have been drawn at an earlier date than that given in the inscription, which was added after the signature. Mary Watts’s diary for 1894 does not record this presentation, but on 5 July the year before Agnew called on Watts; with thanks to Veronica Franklin Gould for bringing this reference to our attention.
This is probably the most significant portrait of Agnew.

1897
Oil on canvas by Hubert von Herkomer; coll. Agnew’s. See Baldry 1901, p.130.

1899
Marble bust by (Edward) Onslow Ford; coll. Agnew’s. Exh. RA 1899 (2015).

Photographsback to top

c.1884
Photograph by F. Baum, Manchester, ‘three-quarter face’; reg. for copyright 1884 Aug. 11: National Archives (copy 1/369/82).

1888
Two photographs by (Edward) Linley Sambourne and one by Harry Furniss, ‘Mr Punch’s Day in the Country’, Punch staff outing to Dorking, 11 July 1888, seated, fourth from left in all three images; ?Punch Archive. Repr. Strand, vol.19, 1900, pp.68–9.

1889
Photograph by unidentified photographer, ‘The Owners and Members of the “Punch” Staff’, on a trip to the Paris Exhibition, May 1889, three-quarter-length, standing sixth from right, without hat; untraced. Repr. Millar 1937, opp. p.65.

1891
Photograph used for drawing by (Edward) Linley Sambourne (see above, ‘publ. 1891’), whole-length, standing, profile to left, raising glass; Linley Sambourne House, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, fac_rbkc_St_84.

Photograph by Alexander Bassano, head-and-shoulders, full-face. Repr. Spielmann 1895, p.39; as vignette, AJ, 1895, p.254.

publ. 1891
Photograph by Walery [Stanislas Julian, Count Ostrorog], three-quarter-length, standing to front, slightly profile to right, left hand in pocket. Repr. Walery 1888–96, vol.4, issue no.37 (July 1891).

before 1895
Photograph by Russell & Sons, three-quarter-length, standing, looking right, hands in pockets, wearing wing-collar and tie with large clasp; Getty Images, 2634140. Repr. as head-and-shoulders vignette in reverse, ILN, 6 July 1895, p.7; Review of Reviews 1895, p.113.

Dr Jan Marsh