Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1845-1916), Dilettante, sculptor and writer; Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery

By other artists
Undated portraits
Photographs

By other artistsback to top



1852
Bronze statuette, 370mm high, by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, signed and dated, whole-length, standing, wearing boy’s Highland dress; coll. Sutherland Trust, Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland. Exh. Virtue and Vision: Sculpture and Scotland 1540–1990, NG Scotland, 1991; repr. Jackson 1985, p.146, fig.28. Also repr. as Minton ‘Parian ware’ figure, 355mm high, dated 1852 and inscr. ‘A.Carrier’; Royal Coll., Osborne House. See also Jackson 1985, p.150, no.23.

mid-1860s
Pencil drawing by unidentified artist (monogram ‘?HIS’), head-and-shoulders to front, slight moustache, no beard; untraced. Repr. Williamson 1916, p.267 (‘The Lord Ronald Sutherland-Gower in youth’).

1876
Terracotta bust, 310mm high, on wooden base, by Luca Madrassi, signed and dated (done in Paris where Gower and Madrassi shared a studio), head-and-shoulders, turning to left; with sarah Colegrave 2015. Repr. Lawrence’s Furniture sale, Crewkerne, 7 July 2006 (1662) [1].

Oil on canvas, 600 x 462mm, by John Everett Millais, signed and dated, Apr. 1876, head-and-shoulders, profile to left, wispy moustache, no beard; Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. Exh. Art Treasures Exhibition, Wrexham, 1876 (503); Grosvenor G., London, 1877 (27, lent by sitter); PRB Millais PRA, RA, London, and Walker AG, Liverpool, 1967 (88); Millais: Portraits, NPG, London, 1999 (38). Repr. Funnell & Warner 1999, no.38, p.162.
According to the sitter, ‘[I]t was considered extremely like, and a fine specimen of the great painter’s second manner’ (Gower 1883, p.342).

1877
Watercolour, 305 x 84mm, by Leslie Ward (‘Spy’) for Vanity Fair, whole-length, standing, profile to right, hands on hips, short spiky hair, wearing monocle, buttonhole and handkerchief, reclining figure from sculpture entitled The Old Guard in background; untraced; Christie’s (Seend Green House), 19 Sept. 1988 (330).
Chromolithograph, 310 x 180mm, repr. Vanity Fair, 18 Aug. 1877 (‘Men of the Day. No. 155’, captioned ‘A sculptor’); copy NPG D43810; repr. Jackson 1987, p.43.

1884
Red chalk drawing, 359 x 255mm, by Paul Adolphe Rajon, signed and dated, head-and-shoulders slightly to left, beard and waxed moustache, wearing French beret and collarless shirt; priv. coll., Scotland (SNPG ref.H.8955)..

1889
Oil on canvas, 705 x 560mm, by Henry Jones Thaddeus, signed and dated, head-and-shoulders, profile to left; priv. coll., Scotland (SNPG ref. H.8967). Offered as bequest to NPG 1937, declined 11 Feb. 1938.

1892
Bronze medallion by Luca Madrassi, done in France; untraced. Ref. Forrer 1904–30, vol.3, p.527.

1892–3
Painting by Louis Beroud, London, Sept. 1892, whole-length, in group in scene of Venice; untraced. ‘In the foreground Beroud introduced some figures taken from life. He has represented me presenting him to Princess Louise’ (Gower 1902, p.178). This is perhaps First Communion, the oil on canvas, 553 x 660mm, by Beroud, priv. coll., cited on website http://www.the-athenaeum.org/

1894
Miniature by Hugh Nicholson; untraced. Exh. RA 1894 (1303).

1895
Electrotype medallion, 64mm diameter, by Marcelle-Renée Lancelot-Croce, executed in France, inscr. ‘RONALD SUTHERLAND GOWER AETATIS ANNO L MDCCCXCV’, head-and-shoulders, profile to left, moustache and beard, with buttonhole; reverse with inscr. in Greek and emblem showing branch; BM, London, M9306. Ref. Forrer 1904–30, vol.3, pp.285–6. Repr. Gower 1902, title page (uncredited).

1897
Oil on canvas by Henry Scott Tuke; see NPG 4841.

1906–7
Oil on canvas, 770 x 640mm, by Alfred Aaron Wolmark, half-length, profile to left; untraced; ref. Christie’s, 28 Feb. 1983 (123); Phillips, 24 Jan. 1989 (200); Phillips, 26 May 1992 (25). Repr. Ost und West, Oct. 1908, p.616 (with unrelated text). Dated from letter from F.J. Furnivall to W. Rothenstein, 7 Nov. 1906, introducing Wolmark and stating that ‘he is painting Sir Ronald Gower in the country’ (Harvard U., Houghton L., MS BMSENG 1148 [11]).

Undated portraitsback to top


Silhouette by Harry Edwin, bust; untraced. Repr. once in NPG Silhouette Box, pl.51, now untraced.

?Painting by Henry John Stock; untraced. Ref. Christie’s, 4 Nov. 1994, p.42.


Photographsback to top


1862
Albumen print, 85 x 56mm, by Camille Silvy, 3 April 1862, whole-length, standing, slightly profile to right, holding lapel, with long hair; NPG Ax53335.

1865
Albumen prints by Camille Silvy, 15 July 1865, two poses:
(a) 83 x 57mm, whole-length, to front, seated in chair with legs crossed; NPG Ax64460;
(b) 83 x 56mm, whole-length, to front, standing behind chair, arms resting upon the back; NPG Ax64461.

1868
Albumen print, 248 x 394mm, by unidentified photographer, ‘Inspection of the Metropolitan Railway extensions’, Kensington High Street station, 1 July 1868, in group of 23 sitters, whole-length, wearing top hat and light-coloured coat, seated twelfth from right (no.13 on print and in key below image); NPG x27688.

1882
Photograph by Negretti & Zambra, head-and-shoulders, profile to left, beard and moustache, flower in buttonhole. Engr. by George J. Stodart repr. in Gower 1884, frontispiece.

c.1884
Photograph by Sarony, head-and-shoulders to front, wearing dark beret and collarless vest/shirt; publ. as photogravure, 136 x 93mm, NPG x26583, repr. as engr. by Swain in article on Gower by 'M.A.B.', Morning Calls (unidentified, undated periodical, where captioned 'From a Photograph taken by Sarony, New York, about twelve years ago'); and Gower 1902, frontispiece (uncredited). Gower's beret and shirt are those worn in Rajon's drawings (see 'By other artists, 1884'). He visited New York in 1881.

publ. 1889
Carbon print, 250 x 180mm, by Walery [Stansilas Julian, Count Ostrorog], with facsimile signature on mount, three-quarter-length, seated, profile to left, holding small female figurine; copies NPG x9131 and NPG Ax9130. Repr. Walery 1888–96, vol.1, issue no.10 (Mar. 1889).

c.1897–9
Photogravure, 123 x 87mm, by H. Walter Barnett; NPG x26585. Repr. as engr. by Walker & Cockerell in Gower 1902, frontispiece; and Williamson 1916, p.273.

Footnote
1) Madrassi later became Gower's assistant on the Shakespeare memorial at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Dr Jan Marsh