Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), Writer and divine; author of 'Tristram Shandy'.

Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, visited Italy in 1765, travelling from Florence south to Rome and Naples in early 1766. His travels resulted in his book A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, published in 1768. While in Rome, Sterne sat to the young sculptor Joseph Nollekens, who produced a portrait bust of exceptional quality - austere, dignified and Roman. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).