Apart from some minor late detailing, Hope-Pinker had completed this commemorative portrait medallion a number of years prior to its acquisition in 1908. From 1857 to his death in 1890, Robert Henry Soden Smith ran the Art Library at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A).
Mr Robert Henry Soden Smith was the keeper of the Art Library of the South Kensington Museum from 1868-1890. Mr Soden Smith was the son of the late Captain Robert Smith, of Dirleton, county Haddington, of the 44th Regiment, Athlone Pursuivant of Arms. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was originally intended for the Church, but became tutor to the late Marquis of Camden. For 30 years or more he held office at South Kensington, during which time the formation of the important and useful branch of the institution, the Art Library, has been mainly his work. Mr Soden Smith was an accomplished scholar and, in addition to his knowledge in various branches of art and bibliography, he was well versed in several departments of natural history. His friends will think of him as one of the most amiable, kindly and gentle-natured men and in his official capacity he was singularly helpful and courteous (from an obituary in The Times, 23 June 1890).