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Sara Coleridge; Edith May Warter

1 of 2 portraits by Edward Nash

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sara Coleridge; Edith May Warter

by Edward Nash
watercolour on ivory, 1820
5 5/8 in. x 4 in. (143 mm x 102 mm)
Bequeathed by Edith May Warter's granddaughter, Mrs E.A. Boult, 1957
Primary Collection
NPG 4029

Sittersback to top

  • Sara Coleridge (1802-1852), Writer; daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Sitter in 2 portraits.
  • Edith May Warter (1804-1871), Daughter of Robert Southey; wife of John Wood Warter. Sitter in 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

  • Edward Nash (1778-1821), Artist. Artist or producer of 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

These two young women, daughters of the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, are dressed in fashionable full evening dress. The popular style for this was decolletée and in the early part of the decade often excessively low-cut. Both their gowns are lace trimmed. This was probably handmade though the invention of the Bobbin net machine in 1808 had intoduced a cheaper alternative allowing lace to be widely used for the first time. Sara Coleridge's gored sleeves, revealing a paler fabric underneath, show how the Neo-classical style, popular since the turn of the century, was now tending towards Gothic ornamentation. Their hair is centre-parted, arranged in tight curls around the temples, brought up in a loose chignon at the back and secured with jewelled combs. Ringlets were often left to fall loose on the neck behind for evening wear. The portrait was painted at their shared home, Greta Hall in Keswick in the Lake District. The artist Edward Nash was a regular visitor to the house and accompanied Robert Southey on a continental tour in 1817.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 77
  • Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 111
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 136
  • Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 105 Read entry

    Sara, Coleridge's only daughter, was frequently praised by the Wordsworth circle for her beauty and brilliance. She sat to Edward Nash in 1820, when she was aged eighteen and working on a translation of Dobrizhoffer's Latin Account of the Abipones, an astonishing achievement for a young girl, published by John Murray in 1822. She was highly esteemed in London literary society, and the Memoir and Letters published by her daughter in 1873 provides much information on the literary and personal lives of the Coleridges, the Wordsworths and the Southeys.

  • Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantic Icons, 1999, p. 97

Events of 1820back to top

Current affairs

George III dies at Windsor Castle on 29 January and George IV ascends to the throne.
'Trial of Queen Caroline' in the House of Lords; Parliament drops the Bill which was to legitimise a divorce between Caroline and George IV.
Cato Street Conspiracy to assassinate the cabinet discovered. Arthur Thistlewood and fellow conspirators are hanged.

Art and science

Sir Thomas Lawrence becomes President of the Royal Academy.
Astronomical Society is set up by John Herschel and Charles Babbage.
First iron steamship is launched.

International

Actor, Edmund Kean goes on a successful tour of America after making his name at the Drury Lane Theatre.
Revolutions begin in Spain, Portugal and Naples.
The famous ancient Greek statue of the Venus de Milo is rediscovered on the Island of Melos and purchased by the Louvre in Paris.

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Keith Wilson

06 April 2021, 04:40

Edith May Warter ne'e Southey. Edith married Rev. John Wood Warter 15 January 1834. Edith May was the daughter of Robert and Edith Southey