Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (1803-1878)
Mary Grant (1831-1908)
1893 (executed from Thomas Woolner's original model of 1857)
Marble bust, 28 1/2 in. (724 mm) high
© copyright, National Portrait Gallery, London
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
This copy was one of three replicas, the other two executed by Woolner himself, of the bust at Trinity College, Cambridge. It was made from the plaster one belonging to Hallam Tennyson, the poet's son, who later presented it to the National Portrait Gallery. Benedict Read writes, "there is no reason for casting aspersions on their status as to original works of art, particularly once some understanding of the Victorian sculptural world, with the degree of mechanisation and industry that was an essential part of its character, has been acquired" (65).
Image download, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee.