Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
18 of 138 portraits of Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour







© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
by James Russell & Sons
carbon print, 1887
8 3/4in. x 6 7/8in. (223 mm x 173 mm)
Photographs Collection
NPG x5159
Sitterback to top
- Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930), Prime Minister and philosopher. Sitter in 138 portraits.
Artistback to top
- James Russell & Sons (active 1850s-1940s), Photographers. Artist associated with 692 portraits.
Events of 1887back to top
Current affairs
Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years of her reign.In what becomes known as 'Bloody Sunday', or the Trafalgar Square Riot, the police attack a meeting of the Social Democratic Federation, led by among others) Elizabeth Reynolds, John Burns, Annie Besant and Robert Cunninghame-Graham, killing three and injuring more than 200 crowd members.
Art and science
A Study in Scarlet, the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson, is published. One of only four novels (there were a further 56 short stories) featuring Holmes, the mystery turns around the discovery of a corpse in Brixton.The essayist and critic Walter Pater publishes Imaginary Portraits in which he consolidates his doctrine of Aestheticism, 'art for art's sake'.
International
Britain ratifies the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, thus accepting the terms of the International Copyright Act (1886), which abolishes the requirement to register foreign works and introduces an exclusive right to import or produce translations.The British annex Zululand; it becomes part of Natal in 1897.
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