Horace Smith
(1779-1849), Poet and novelistHoratio ('Horace') Smith
Regency Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 3 portraits
Best known for his participation in a sonnet-writing competition with Percy Shelley. Smith, a stockbroker, first came to public attention in 1812 when he and his brother produced a book parodying the most popular poets of the day. The book was a huge hit, and went through seven editions within three months. In 1818 Shelley and Smith, who were good friends, entered a competition run by The Examiner to write a sonnet inspired by the figure of Ramesses II in the British Museum. Shelley's Ozymandias was published in January and Smith's On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below the following month.
by Edward Matthew Ward
pencil and wash, 1835
NPG 4578
by Unknown artist
watercolour, circa 1840
NPG 2200
by Edward Francis Finden, published by John Samuel Murray, after George Henry Harlow
stipple engraving, published 1833
NPG D6781
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