Former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is represented here wearing a bow tie and with his trademark beard and small moustache. Beneath his thick eyebrows, his eyes look to his right with a somewhat troubled expression.
As no other version is known, this bust by sculptor John Adams-Acton may well be the work referred to in ‘The Era’ newspaper, in July 1883. It was then reported that the sculptor was ‘engaged in finishing three busts, those of Beaconsfield, Gladstone, and President Garfield, which are to be placed side by side, strange to say, in the great hall at Chicago.’ The busts were presumably sent to Chicago for exhibition. Unless there was another version, this bust of Disraeli returned to London in time for Adams-Acton to exhibit it at the Royal Academy in London, in 1885. It was later recorded as being on display in the artist’s studio, in March 1894.
