John Robert Steell

A carte-de-visite portrait of the Scottish sculptor John Robert Steell (1804-1891). He is best know for his statue of Sir Walter Scott with his dog Maida, which sits under the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, and also for his equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, dubbed ‘the Iron Duke in bronze by Steell,’ which stands outside Register House on Prince’s Street in Edinburgh.

He was a member of the Royal Scottish Academy. He was knighted by the Queen in 1876, following the unveiling of his statue of the Prince Consort which stands in the centre of Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, and in 1887, in recognition of his eminence as a sculptor, he was granted a pension from the Civil List.

He died in Edinburgh on 15 September 1891 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Edinburgh's Old Calton Cemetery. According to his obituary in The Times (16 September 1891): ‘For some past Sir John had been confined to his house by the infirmities of old age. He was a very genial and kindly disposition, and was greatly esteemed not only by the members of the Royal Scottish Academy and others associated with him in his profession, but by the public at large.’

Photographer unidentified.

The sitter has signed the reverse of the mount in ink.