Thomas de Quincey

Inscriptionback to top

Incised on the back of the base: Jⁿ STEELL. R.S.A./SCULPT^t EDIN^r/1875

This portraitback to top

Closely related to the posthumous marble bust of De Quincey by Steell of 1875 in the Scottish NPG, exhibited RA, 1876 (1495). It was apparently executed with the help of a death mask and other authentic material. [1] A marble replica of 1882 is at Worcester College, Oxford. William Bell Scott was a friend of Steell, and had met De Quincey. Another plaster cast, identical to the NPG bust, is reproduced The Bookman, XXXI (1907), 215.

Footnotesback to top

1) See J. Caw, Catalogue of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (5th edition, 1899), p 58.

Provenanceback to top

William Bell Scott, presented by him, 1889.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, 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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