Portraying George Elliot


Interesting display at the National Portrait Gallery of portraits of the artist George Elliot to mark the bicentenary of her birth.

Born Mary Anne Evans, George Elliot had concerns about her appearance having been called ‘long’ and ‘pale’ so she kept a low profile and so there are few portraits of her. This gallery holds most of the pictures of her and five of them are shown here, 2 paintings, a watercolour, a drawing and a photograph.

The earliest work was from 1842 and was painted by her friend Caroline Bray from life and the last one was the drawing of her, sketched at the theatre, by Lowes Cato Dickinson who spotted her at a concert and drew this on an envelope.

My favourite was by Frederick William Barton of her in her mid-40s, a close cropped, intimate picture which she agreed could be used for engravings.

Closes 8 December 2019

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