Portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray (c.1852)

Medium: watercolour

The Illustrated London News on 14 March 1931 reported that a ‘hitherto unknown’ portrait of Thackeray was to be offered for sale at Sotheby’s on 30 March the same year. Without any proof of provenance or unfortunately giving any further useful details, the article went on to state that it ‘is said to have been probably painted, during Thackeray’s tour in America, by Eyre Crowe, A.R.A., who accompanied him as his secretary’.

The ILN archive, 1842-2003, is available only to subscribers, and through some major reference libraries. The article includes an image of the portrait, which I cannot find anywhere else online, suggesting that if the portrait was sold in 1931, it went into private ownership.

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