Photo Study – Robert Howlett - Isambard Kingdom Brunel 1857

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An amazing image of the great Victorian engineer responsible for The Great Eastern Steamship and so much more. IKB looks positively Dickensian in his stovepipe hat, smoking on a cigar stump. The entire background consists of the coiled links of the giant anchor chain from the ship, beside which Brunel looks almost dwarfish. His suit looks baggy. He has his hands in his pocket as if feeling cold and his trousers & boots are muddy, showing that he has been working hard with the labour force. Brunel was not a man who would only do his engineering on paper. He was prepared to be right there getting stuck in with the workers. He looks lost in thought here as well as proud and determined, unaware of how he was dwarfed by his own genius. Arthur Chappell