| Portrait of Marc Isambard Brunel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | James Northcote |
| Year | 1812–13 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait |
| Location | National Portrait Gallery, London |
The Portrait of Marc Isambard Brunel is a portrait painting by the English artist James Northcote depicting the French-born British engineer Marc Isambard Brunel. Brunel was a pioneering engineer of the Regency era known particularly for his creation of a block-making machine during the Napoleonic Wars and his later construction of the Thames Tunnel, a project which also involved his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Northcote was a member of the Royal Academy and established portraitist. It was exhibited at the academy's Summer Exhibition in 1814. He was paid twenty guineas for the portrait, which was commissioned by Thomas Mudge, Brunel's business partner and the brother-in-law of his wife.[1]
The work shows Brunel in a velvet coat with a model of one of his block-making machines in the background.[2] Today it is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London having been donated by the sitter's grandson Henry Marc Brunel in 1895.[3]