Pencil portrait of Bishop Ollivant for monuments in Llandaff Cathedral

Henry Hugh Armstead RA (1828 - 1905)

RA Collection: Art

A pencil portrait of Alfred Ollivant, Bishop of Llandaff (1798-1882). This drawing relates to designs for both a small stone statue of the Bishop and also his tomb effigy for Llandaff Cathedral. Armstead exhibited a sculpture of 'The Late Bishop Ollivant; for Llandaff' at the Royal Academy annual exhibition in 1887.

Ollivant was described as 'tall and spare, with features said by many to resemble those of the Duke of Wellington. In advancing years he suffered from deafness; but his intellect was keen and vigorous to the last'. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described Ollivant's tomb at Llandaff as 'spectacularly treated...by Armstead's grandiose recumbent effigy'.

Armstead made a number of designs for carvings and other fittings at Llandaff Cathedral, during its restoration by the architects J. P. Seddon, John Prichard and others between c.1845-1880s.