drawing
- Museum number
- 1905,1019.9
- Description
-
Portrait study for a head of George Eliot, novelist; turned and looking to front
Watercolour (?)
- Production date
- 1816-1900
- Dimensions
-
Height: 316 millimetres
-
Width: 393 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Not in Binyon
Burton was friendly with Eliot and visited her regularly from the early 1860s and his diary records a number of the visits in detail (see Burton exh. cat., NGI, 2017, pp.42-6). He asked her to sit for a portrait in February 1864 and there is a strong chalk portrait, resulting from these sittings, in the NPG (no. 669, dated 1865, exh. RA 1867, presented to NPG by her husband 1883 after having it engraved, see 1907,0717.92). Comparison of that portrait with this raises questions about the identity of the sitter in the BM's drawing, as the nose is a slightly different shape.
Paul Goldman addressed the issues of whether the BM's portrait might be an idealized drawing of Eliot in an article in the British Library Journal, 1982 (https://www.bl.uk/eblj/1982articles/pdf/article11.pdf). He noted the arguments and letters presented in evidence to support the identification of the portrait as Eliot when it was purchased in 1905 and that Colvin, who made the purchase, had sufficient doubts two years later that he sent it to someone else who had known her for their opinion. Although Theodore Martin, to whom it was sent, was certain it was a portrait of Eliot, Goldman pointed out that he was 91 years old and that it had been many years since he had last seen the author.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1905
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1905,1019.9
