Charles de Sousy Ricketts

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Charles de Sousy Ricketts

by Charles Haslewood Shannon
chalk, 1899
11 3/4 in. x 7 3/4 in. (298 mm x 197 mm)
Purchased, 1933
Primary Collection
NPG 2631

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Charles Haslewood Shannon (1863-1937), Painter and lithographer. Artist or producer of 11 portraits, Sitter in 12 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This sensitive drawing was made shortly after the critical success of the oil portrait of Ricketts. Shannon noted in his diary that it was a study for a double portrait of the pair. The introspective feel of the drawing is at odds with descriptions of Ricketts's restless and eloquent manner but perhaps hints at the loneliness and pessimism that some detected beneath his charismatic exterior. During this period, he was researching his book, The Prado (1903) and later wrote an evocative account of the pair's artistic hero, Titian (1910).

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 143
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 523

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1899back to top

Current affairs

George Nathaniel Curzon, Lord Curzon, is appointed Viceroy of India, pursuing a mixed policy of forceful control and conciliation. Curzon's inquiries into Indian administration result in legislation in areas including education, irrigation, and policing. The Board of Education is created to co-ordinate the work of higher grade elementary schools, county technical schools and endowed grammar schools, also setting up a register of teachers.

Art and science

The Italian Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first wireless telegraph, between France and England across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. Marconi's production of waves over long distances lays the foundations for the development of the radio. Later this year, Marconi demonstrates his invention in America, at the Cup yacht race, and for the American navy.

International

Outbreak of the second Boer war, fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Despite a disastrous start, Britain quickly won the war, although guerilla warfare continued until 1902, leading to the introduction of concentration camps by British commander Lord Kitchener, a measure which contributes to the British public's growing disillusionment with the campaign.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.