Traditionally identified as a portrait of Charles Dickens as a young man, aged 16, head and shoulders, in a grey coat

The earliest known portrait of Dickens is a miniature which was executed in 1830 when he was eighteen, by Mrs Janet Barrow (fl. 1817-1830), an aunt of Dickens. In The Dickensian (op. cit.), Gibson Shyvers proposes that Mannin's portrait was the earliest. The suggestion is based on comparing contemporary descriptions of the young Dickens and considering Mrs Mannin as a possible prototype for the literary character of Miss La Creevy in Nicholas Nickleby. However, comprehensive iconographical surveys of Dickens portraits such as Kitton's Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil (Sabin & Dexter, London, 1889-90) do not reference Mannin's work and it has not been possible to confirm the identification of the sitter.

We are grateful to Dr Florian Schweizer, Director of the Charles Dickens Museum for his help in cataloguing this drawing.