Object Image

Sir George Scharf

Sir George Scharf (1820-1895), Artist and art historian; first Director and later trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

This portrait of the Gallery's first Director Sir George Scharf was commissioned by a group of his friends and supporters in 1884. It shows him in the act of sketching, with notebook open and pencil poised. Over the course of his long career Scharf, a talented draughtsman, filled more than 150 sketchbooks with careful drawings of British historical portraits encountered in public and private collections around the country, as well as with daily incidents of Victorian life. In fact, whilst providing an early sitting for the portraitist William Walter Ouless in January 1885...

1885
Oil on canvas
923.0 x 716.0mm
NPG 985
Image and text © National Portrait Gallery, 2022

Where you'll find this

National Portrait Gallery
Permanent collection