James Martineau

Inscriptionback to top

Incised on the back of the chair: Sketch for the/Dr. Martineau Statue/H R Hope-Pinker Sc/1897

This portraitback to top

This is a model for the marble statue of Martineau by Hope-Pinker at Manchester College, Oxford, which was exhibited RA, 1898 (1932); statue and statuette are almost identical, but there are some differences in the folds of the costume. Similar statuettes are at the Unitarian Headquarters, London, Doctor William's Library, London, and the Unitarian College, Manchester. [1] Hope-Pinker also exhibited a bust of Martineau RA, 1897 (2005), and a sketch for a statue, said to have been executed in 1895, at the Seventeenth Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, 1907 (229); it is just possible that this latter sketch is the NPG statuette, although the dates do not tally.

Footnotesback to top

1) Information kindly communicated by the Rev H. L. Short, principal of Manchester College, Oxford, in a letter of 2 April 1968 (NPG archives); he remembers visiting Hope-Pinker's studio, when the sculptor was still alive, and seeing another statuette there.

Provenanceback to top

The artist, presented by him, 1925.


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 James Martineau