Robert Evans by Carlisle

George Eliot’s father was Robert Evans (1773-1849). He was the manager of the Arbury Hall Estate for the Newdigate family. Evans gave up some of his work in 1841 and moved to Coventry with his daughter, George Eliot. In June 1842 he sat for this portrait. It was made by a Mr Carlyle. The artist painted this portrait on a very thin slice of ivory.

Several characters in Eliot’s novels are in some way based on her father, including Adam Bede and Caleb Garth in Middlemarch.