Alfred Tennyson by Thomas Woolner. Marble, 1857. The bust is seen at close quarters on the left, and in its larger context on the right. It is in Poet's Corner, at Westminster Abbey, London. Here, Tennyson is still young and as yet untitled, because this is a replica of a bust at Trinity College, Cambridge, made long before his death (see Read 65). The replica was executed by Woolner himself for Charles Jenner, of Jenner's Department Store, Princes Street, Edinburgh. Jenner later donated it to the Abbey (see the commentary on Jenner's). It was placed near the poet's gravestone in Poet's Corner in 1895.
Related Material (Woolner's other portraits of Tennyson)
- The Cambridge version
- Medallion, 1856
- Bust, 1873
Photograph on left by George P. Landow (2011), and on right by Laurence Cooke (2021). Text by Jacqueline Banerjee.You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
History: Lord Alfred Tennyson Westminster Abbey's official site. Web. 17 January 2011.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1982.
Last modified 4 August 2021 (photograph added)