Linley Sambourne

Inscriptionback to top

Signed in ink lower right: ‘Hy.F.’
On back, inscr. in ink: ‘Punch chap V’;
in pencil: ‘Linley Sambourne / “The Baron”’;
and in blue pencil: ‘T.P.C. chap III’.

This portraitback to top

Harry Furniss succeeded Sambourne as illustrator for Punch weekly feature, the ‘Essence of Parliament’, in 1884. There was considerable friction between them. In Furniss’s publications ‘dear old Sammy’ comes across in words and drawings as an enthusiastic bumbler; and he was always critical of Sambourne’s reliance on photography. [1]

The inscription ‘T.P.C.’ on the reverse is a reference to Furniss’s book The Two Pins Club. In fact neither NPG 3508 nor NPG 3509 was used to illustrate Sambourne in this publication. The Two Pins Club was a riding club, many of whose founder members were from Punch: the editor Francis Cowley (‘Frank’) Burnand, Tenniel, Harry Furniss and Sambourne.

See NPG collection 3337–3535, 3554–3620.

Carol Blackett-Ord

Footnotesback to top

1) ‘[Sambourne] had no natural wit, nor had he any power of critical application.’ See Furniss 1925, p.108 and pp.218 ff.

Physical descriptionback to top

Three portraits of Sambourne: head-and-shoulders, profile to left (main figure); whole-length to left on horseback, brandishing whip; and small profile to right.

Provenanceback to top

The artist; his sons, from whom purchased (through Theodore Cluse), April 1947

View all known portraits for Harry Furniss

View all known portraits for (Edward) Linley Sambourne