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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt

1 of 47 portraits of Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt, by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey, 1841, based on a work of 1820 -NPG 993 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Regency Portraits Catalogue

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt

by Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey
1841, based on a work of 1820
30 3/4 in. x 20 1/2 in. (780 mm x 520 mm) overall
NPG 993

Inscriptionback to top

Incised: SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY/SCULPTOR/1841.

This portraitback to top

Chantrey's original bust was made in 1820 and given to Scott in 1828 'as a token of esteem'. Scott wrote to his wife on 20 March 1820, 'Chantrey's bust is one of the finest things he ever did. It is quite the fashion to go to see it - there's for you' (J. G. Lockhart, Life of Sir Walter Scott, III, p 377). Sir Francis Chantrey’s Ledgers of Accounts (p 117) records: 'SIR WALTER SCOTT'S BUST/When this Marble Bust was finished Mr Chantrey presented it to his friend Sir Walter Scott Bart. It is to be placed in the Poet's Library at Abbotsford/It was made in 1820 and presented in 1828.' The bust itself has a similar inscription on the back and is still at Abbotsford; copy in Scottish NPG.
A copy was commissioned by Wellington in 1821 and delivered to Apsley House in 1827, 150 guineas (Sir Francis Chantrey’s Ledgers of Accounts, p 140), now Stratfield Saye; Allan Cunningham, at that time Chantrey's secretary, told Scott that Wellington had declared it to be the best of all Chantrey's works (letter 12 March 1822). A third bust was commissioned by Peel, and Scott gave Chantrey special sittings in May and June 1828 (Sir Francis Chantrey’s Ledgers of Accounts, p 147 and Scott's Journal, p 476). The bust, finished and delivered to Drayton Manor in December 1838, 150 guineas, is now in a private collection. In his letter to Peel, Chantrey said that in the Drayton bust 'the expression is more serious than in the two former Busts, and the marks of age more than eight years deeper', but to the casual observer there does not appear to be a great deal of difference (Chantrey's letter to Peel, 26 January 1838, J. G. Lockhart, Life of Sir Walter Scott, X, pp 238-9).
No camera lucida drawing appears to exist but Chantrey's free-hand drawing in the Ashmolean Museum is inscribed: Sir Walter Scott Bart/19th April 1820 - Fr Chantrey; a copy was at Christie's 3 July 1962 (150) bought Agnew. The plaster model is Ashmolean Museum 629/117, and a variant of this was used as background in Landseer's portrait of Chantrey's dog Mustard (Royal Collection, Balmoral).
A large number of marble copies exist, executed by Chantrey's assistants; one of these, made in the year of Chantrey's death, is NPG 993; another is in Glasgow. Plaster casts abound, many painted as bronze and used as library busts. Medals and intaglio gems after Chantrey's busts were executed by Stothard, Wyon, Thomas Crawford, Weekes and Bain; a wax impression from a ring-seal is in the NPG Reference Collection.

Physical descriptionback to top

Slightly turned to his left in plaid.

Provenanceback to top

Robert Vernon and part of the Vernon Gift to the National Gallery 1847; transferred to the Tate Gallery (no.2246) and to the NPG in 1957.

Reproductionsback to top

(Of the original)
By Picart from a drawing by Wivell 1824, by Thomson for the New Monthly Magazine, 1831 and Court Journal, 1832, and by Holl for Knight's Gallery of Portraits, 1837. A Collas-type from a drawing by Weekes was published in Chorley's Authors of England, 1838.


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.

View all known portraits for Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey

View all known portraits for Sir Walter Scott, 1st Bt