Charles Dickens
George Richmond, RA 1809-1896
Signed in pencil, "G. Richmond lower right and inscribed Charles Dickens from recollection after dining / with him and Charles Young The Actor / at Miss Burdett Coutts, lower centre.
Pen and brown ink on paper
6 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches (16.5 x 10.5 cm)
Provenance: The Artist's family and by descent.
Originally one of "The Ancients" in the circle of Palmer and Calvert, Richmond later became one of the leading portrait painters of his day. although Dickens commissioned a portrait of his son Charles in 1852, there is no record that the novelist himself ever sat to Richmond. Richmond's son, William Blake Richmond, exhibited at The Fine Art Society in 1912, 1914 and 1921.