Edward Bird

Inscriptionback to top

Incised on front edge: E. BIRD R A and on the back: CHANTREY SCULPTOR 1816.

This portraitback to top

There is no indication in Sir Francis Chantrey’s Ledgers of Accounts of any commission for this bust but Cunningham relates how Bird sat to Chantrey during one of his visits to London from Bristol and how much of the information in his 'Life of Bird' was culled during the sittings in Chantrey's studio (Cunningham, Lives, 1830, II, p 263). A preliminary drawing was lithographed 'from the Original Sketch' and probably the profile NPG 3648 followed. A bust was exhibited RA 1817 (1061) and the plaster model in the Ashmolean Museum, with a similar incision on the back, was used by George Wallis (the donor's father) as a mould for a plaster cast to be presented to Bird's native town, Wolverhampton. Two other casts were taken, one of which belonged to Wallis's daughters (NPG 986) and is a rather prettified version of the more rugged Ashmolean model.

Provenanceback to top

George Wallis FSA, then his daughters and presented by his executors.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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