CHARLES DICKENS,
Born February the Seventh, 1812. Died June the Ninth, 1870.
SOME PORTRAITS OF CHARLES DICKENS
“Boz” (Charles Dickens). From a drawing by S. Laurence; in the possession of Mr. Horace N. Pym
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In 1837 Dickens sat for his portrait to his friend Samuel Laurence, an artist distinguished for remarkable skill in the art of portrait-sketching. Shortly after the death of Mr. Laurence in 1884, his drawings were disposed of by auction at the sale of his effects on June 12th, and the “Boz” portrait which is here reproduced then became the property of Mr. Horace N. Pym, the editor of “Caroline Fox’s Journal.” Of this portrait Mr. F. G, Kitton writes in “Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil”: “The artist has admirably succeeded in rendering with marvellous skill the fire and beauty of the eyes—the sensitiveness and mobility of the mouth.”
Charles Dickens in 1839. From the picture by Daniel Maclise, R.A.
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This painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840, and is now in the National Portrait Gallery. Thackeray referred to it in terms of the highest praise. “Look at the portrait of Mr. Dickens,” he wrote, “well arranged as a picture, good in colour and light and shadow, and as a likeness perfectly amazing; a looking-glass could not render a better fac-simile. Here we have the real identical man Dickens; the artist must have understood the inward ‘Boz’ as well as the outward before he made this admirable representation of him. What cheerful intellectuality is about the man’s eyes, and a large forehead! The mouth is too large and full, too eager and active, perhaps; the smile is very sweet and generous.”
Charles Dickens reading “The Chimes” to his friends at 58, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Monday, the 2nd of Dec., 1844
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