Aubrey Beardsley
- Artist: Jacques-Emile Blanche
- Date: 1895
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 36 1/2 in. x 29 in. (926 mm x 737 mm) overall
- Portrays: Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is a portrait of Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, drawn in oil on canvas in 1895 by French painter Jacques‑Emile Blanche. Beardsley sits upright, his cane resting lightly beside him. Notice how Blanche has captured the artist’s habit of tapping the floor as he speaks – the cane’s tip almost a metronome for his rhythm. His clothing is finely detailed: a crisp waistcoat, a lace collar and gauntlets that catch the light just so. The canvas itself shows subtle brushwork, with darker accents around the head to give depth.
Blanche painted this portrait while Beardsley was in Dieppe that summer. The work later entered the National Portrait Gallery and is now housed in a gilt‑oak frame, originally made for an exhibition in 1895 but completed only after Beardsley’s death in 1898. The frame itself has fluting along the sides with small buttons at each corner – typical of the plain oak style of that period.
See it in person
Aubrey Beardsley is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
