Robert Stephenson

Sitterback to top

• Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), Civil engineer; son of George Stephenson. Sitter in 12 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Unknown photographer, Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 6566 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This daguerreotype may have been taken to assist John Lucas in his group portrait Conference of Engineers at the Menai Straits.

Related worksback to top

• NPG D10713: Conference of Engineers at the Menai Straits Preparatory to Floating one of the Tubes of the Britannia Bridge (after)

Linked publicationsback to top

• Funnell, Peter (introduction); Marsh, Jan, A Guide to Victorian and Edwardian Portraits, 2011, p. 25 Read entry

  Son of the railway pioneer George Stephenson, Robert Stephenson (1803-59) supervised the construction of the famous steam engine the Rocket at his father’s Newcastle works. From 1838 he constructed, or advised on the construction of, railways in Britain and abroad. This daguerreotype may have been taken to assist John Lucas in his group portrait Conference of Engineers at the Menai Straits (c.1851-3), which was commissioned by the Institute of Civil Engineers to commemorate the building of the Britannia Bridge, which linked Anglesey to the Welsh mainland.

• Rogers, Malcolm, Camera Portraits, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 October 1989 - 21 January 1990), p. 27 Read entry

  The only son of the pioneer of railways, George Stephenson, Robert Stephenson's early career was spent in the locomotive business, and the famous Rocket (1829) was built under his supervision at his father's Newcastle works. But his enduring fame rests on his work as a civil engineer, and above all on his bridges: the high-level Tyne bridge at Newcastle, the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick, the Britannia Bridge across the Menai Straits (1850), in which tubular girders were used for the first time, and the Victoria Bridge across the St Lawrence at Montreal.

  To commemorate the building of the Menai Bridge the artist John Lucas painted for the Institute of Civil Engineers his group portrait Conference of Engineers at the Menai Straits prior to floating a Tube of the Britannia Bridge (c.1851-3). In this the central figure of Stephenson is based closely on this daguerreotype, which was given to the Gallery by a descendant of the painter, and may have been taken specially to help Lucas in his project. If so, it is likely that the artist himself suggested Stephenson's thoughtful pose.

• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 587

Subject/Themeback to top

• Daguerreotype

Events of 1851back to top

Current affairs

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International

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