Bust of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), by Pierre-John David d'Angers (1789-1856). 1828. Marble. Height: 60 cms; plinth H 4.5 x W 26.6 x D 23.2 cm. Collection: Senate House, University of London, Accession no. SC-0007. [Click on the image to enlarge it]
Bentham took a close interest in French affairs, and was made an honorary French citizen in 1792, but his attitudes both to the French Revolution itself and to the political upheavals that followed were complex. However, when he visited Paris in 1825, just for month, for personal reasons — to consult a physician — he was very well received there (see Atkinson 206), and it was on this occasion that he sat for David (see O'Sullivan and Fuller, 159 n.13).
The location of the bust at Senate House is, of course, highly appropriate, because Bentham's ideas were so important for the founding of the university, and the whole concept of higher education for all, whatever their background and beliefs. The bust provided one of the models for the wax head on Bentham's auto-icon, now housed in University College's Student Centre in Gordon Square.
Related Material
- The Jeremy Bentham Cabinet at University College London
- Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
- Bentham and Coleridge: Seminal Minds
- The University of London: The Founding Colleges
Photograph by Tim Willasey-Wilsey (background digitally removed). Caption material from Art UK. Text by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
Atkinson, Charles Milner. Jeremy Bentham: His Life and Work. London: Methuen, 1905. Internet Archive, from the collection of the Public Library of India. Web. 26 October 2026.
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Art UK. Web. 26 October 2026.
O'Sullivan, Luke, and Catherine Fuller, eds. The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, July 1824-June 1828. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Created 26 October 2026