This photogravure is part of a book of twenty-five portraits titled ‘Alfred, Lord Tennyson and his friends’. Published in 1893, it features the likes of Thomas Carlyle, Sir John Herschel and Charles Darwin. Darwin is widely recognised as one of the most influential figures in the history of science. His research conducted during The Beagle voyage from 1831-6, marked a definitive period in his life and formulated the beginnings of his investigations into evolution: 'it determined my whole career'. In 1859 Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859), which shattered established beliefs and proposed his theory of evolution. Darwin met Tennyson and the photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron, in 1868 whilst visiting the Isle of Wight.