Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Artist: Amelia Robertson Hill
- Date: 1882
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: object: 950 x 700 x 420 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Percy Bysshe Shelley” by Amelia Robertson Hill. The piece is a bronze bust created in 1882, measuring about 950 × 700 × 420 mm. Hill was a prominent Scottish sculptor from the Paton family; she also contributed three figures to the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. Because there’s no reliable adult likeness of the poet, her fascination with the Romantic writer is expressed through an idealised form – “Hill’s fascination for the Romantic poet translated into this monumental idealised bust.” Hill kept it as a prized possession and displayed it prominently in the large vestibule of her studio home until she died. The sculpture entered the collection via Tate Patrons in 2014, and today you can view it here in the Historic and Modern British Art section of the museum. Its bronze finish gives a warm patina that captures the subtle expressions on Shelley’s face, inviting you to imagine his poetic spirit coming alive through stone and metal.
See it in person
Percy Bysshe Shelley is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, 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.
