Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt

This portraitback to top

This bust is closely related to the marble bust of Herschel by Baily at St John's College, Cambridge (dated 1850), exhibited RA, 1850 (1435). The partly visible medal which the sitter is wearing may represent the Copley medal of the Royal Society awarded to him in 1847. An earlier bust of Herschel by Baily, dated 1848, was in the Crystal Palace Portrait Gallery, 1854.

Referenceback to top

NPG Annual Report, 1958-9 (1960), p 7.

Provenanceback to top

The sitter, by descent to Mrs E. D. Shorland (niece of Sir John Herschel, 3rd Bart); purchased from Sotheby's, 4 March 1958 (lot 466).


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.

View all known portraits for Edward Hodges Baily

View all known portraits for Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt