The Difficulty of Capturing Dickens

Although Frith revisited his portrait of Dickens many times, it seems that he may not have enjoyed painting the picture but instead found it a challenging task. In this letter, Frith writes that he will exhibit a ‘portrait of Charles Dickens whose troublesome face I shall remember to the day of my death’. Even accomplished artists like Frith struggled to capture the dynamism of Dickens.

Manuscript letter from William Powell Frith to C.F. Pangar, 1859.
B371.1 © Charles Dickens Museum