Portrait bust
- Gallery: Room 47
- Maker: John 'Warrington' Wood
- Made in: Rome (city)
- Date: 1881
- Object type: portrait bust
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: OA.10557
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you stands a marble portrait bust of Lady Mary Enid Layard, carved in 1881 by John "Warrington" Wood in Rome. The figure faces slightly to the right, her classical dress flowing elegantly around her. A delicate laurel wreath adorns her head, studded with berries and a row of six small circle ornaments—possibly gemstones. Below the wreath, an intricate necklace of alternating amphora and bullet-shaped pendants completes the portrait.
The bust is carved from Carrara marble, polished to a smooth, crystalline sheen, and mounted on a polished socle with a white marble disc in between—likely added later. The fine detailing in her hair and jewelry showcases Wood's remarkable craftsmanship.
Lady Layard was a woman of means and style, living in Venice and later remembered through this carefully crafted portrait. The sculpture reflects the classicism favored in the 19th century and marks one of Wood’s many successful marble busts.
See it in person
Portrait bust is on display in Room 47 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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