Photograph of Thomas Creswick
Photographers: John and Charles Watkins
Circa 1860
Albumen print
87 x 55 mm.
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
A carte-de-visite photograph of Creswick, aged about 50. The artist had a reputation for being rather solemn and taciturn, and this portrait reaffirms the unsmiling attitude of several visual records, including his self-portrait. It also asserts the notion of Creswick as a Victorian sage, with a full beard and impressive gaze; viewed as an establishment figure, his persona echoes images of John Ruskin and William Holman Hunt.
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Text by Simon Cooke
