The most famous in a series of photographs of Isambard Kingdom Brunel by the young photographer Robert Howlett, this image shows Brunel against a wall of massive chain links – the launching chains of his Great Eastern.
The Brunel Museum’s chair-elect and eminent engineer, Dana Skelley OBE, says: ‘We are thrilled that this timeless 1857 print of Isambard Kingdom Brunel has won the public vote. For us, it captures so much about the remarkable man that our museum in Rotherhithe celebrates, located at the site of the world’s first tunnel under a river (1843) where he started his career under the direction of his father Sir Marc Brunel. This powerful image also has immense historic value, as it was taken by Robert Howlett, an early pioneer of photo journalism.’