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Secondary sourceSculpture1885

Statue of Charles Darwin by Joseph Edgar Boehm

Joseph Edgar Boehm · 1885

A marble memorial statue of Charles Darwin seated in a chair, unveiled in 1885 at the Natural History Museum, London.

This memorial statue commemorates Darwin, funded by public subscription after his death.

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White marble seated statue of Charles Darwin in a chair, hands clasped over one knee, wearing a coat, waistcoat and trousers, set against a tiled wall. The plinth reads CHARLES DARWIN.
Joseph Edgar Boehm, statue of Charles Darwin, 1885. Natural History Museum, London.

About this source

What it is

A white marble statue of Charles Darwin seated in a chair, created by the sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm in 1885 and held at the Natural History Museum in London. It was commissioned by public subscription shortly after Darwin's death and unveiled on 9 June 1885.

Why it matters

The statue shows how quickly and publicly Darwin came to be honoured as a major scientific figure after his death, funded by people who wanted to commemorate him. Its placement in a major natural history museum reflects Darwin's lasting importance to the study of life and evolution.

Look closer

  • Why might the public have paid to commission this statue so soon after Darwin's death?
  • What does the seated, calm pose suggest about how Darwin was meant to be remembered?
  • What does a statue capture about a person that a photograph cannot, and what does it leave out?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Charles Darwin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Printed page 45 of the 1858 Linnean Society paper 'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties' by Darwin and Wallace, with a covering letter from Lyell and Hooker dated London, June 30th, 1858. Text is in serif type.Document

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Title page of Charles Darwin's book 'The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex', 1871. Text reads: by Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., &c.; in two volumes, Vol. I; with illustrations; London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1871.Book

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