Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
William Brodie, 1815–1881, British
Title:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate
Date:
1857
Materials & Techniques:
Marble
Dimensions:
Overall: 31 1/2 × 15 × 10 inches (80 × 38.1 × 25.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Signed by chisel on supporting column on back of bust: "Wm. BRODIE R. S. A."
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1993.29
Classification:
Sculptures
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
portrait | marble | man
Currently On View:
Not on view
Publications:
Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 1, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Angus Trumble, The Marble Bust, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2004, no. 1, V 1304 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Tennyson (1809–1892) was the most successful Victorian poet and was named Poet Laureate by Queen Victoria in 1850, following the death of William Wordsworth. His fame and popularity in the mid-nineteenth century rested in large part on his Arthurian poems, such as “The Lady of Shalott,” which became a popular subject among visual artists of the period (Walter Crane’s painting of the dying Lady of Shalott is shown nearby). This heroic bust was made by the Scottish sculptor William Brodie, who worked in Edinburgh and specialized in portrait busts. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1857. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1518