Lot Essay
Portraits of four of the most eminent writers of Victorian Britain. Carlyle (1795-1881), born in Scotland but later living in Chelsea, London, was best known as an essayist (for the Edinburgh Review) and historian (see also lot ). Robert Browning (1812-1889), one of England's greatest poets, returned to Britain in 1861 after the death of his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning, with whom he had lived in relative seclusion in Italy for fifteen years. This portrait shows him at the height of his career in the late 1860s and was probably made at Little Holland House during the period when Browning was sitting for a portrait by G. F. Watts. Sir Henry Taylor (1800-1886), also a poet, was a great friend of Cameron, with whom he stayed at Dimbola House on the Isle of Wight every spring and autumn. James Spedding (1808-1881) was a historian and essayist, best known for editing and publishing the works of Francis Bacon. He sat for Cameron at Hendon Lawn, London.