Regency Portraits Catalogue
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824), Poet
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Poet and champion of liberty. His principal works are: Hours of Idleness, 1807, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1809, Childe Harold, 1812-18, The Corsair, 1814 and Don Juan, 1819-23. His letters and journals have been published in several volumes.
Lawrence's description c.1821, admittedly slightly biased, is only one of many:
'... the forehead clear and open, the brow boldly prominent, the Eyes bright and dissimilar, - the Nose finely cut and the Nostril acutely formed - the Mouth well-formed but wide, and contemptuous even in its smile, falling singularly at the corners, and its vindictive and disdainful expression heightened by the massive firmness of the Chin' (Layard, Sir Thomas Lawrence's Letter-Bag, 1906, p 95).
Lawrence's description c.1821, admittedly slightly biased, is only one of many:
'... the forehead clear and open, the brow boldly prominent, the Eyes bright and dissimilar, - the Nose finely cut and the Nostril acutely formed - the Mouth well-formed but wide, and contemptuous even in its smile, falling singularly at the corners, and its vindictive and disdainful expression heightened by the massive firmness of the Chin' (Layard, Sir Thomas Lawrence's Letter-Bag, 1906, p 95).
Referencesback to top
Burton and Murdoch 1982Anthony Burton and John Murdoch, Byron, V&A Museum exhibition catalogue, 1974.
Dallas 1824
R. C. Dallas, Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron, 1824.
Guiccioli 1868
Contessa Teresa Guiccioli, My Recollections of Lord Byron, 1868 trans. 1869.
Kenworthy Brown 1978
John Kenworthy Brown, 'Sculptor and Revolutionary: British Portraits by Bartolini' in Country Life, 8 June 1978.
Langham-Carter 1970
R. R. Langham-Carter, 'The Bartolini Busts in the South Africa Library' in Quarterly Review of the South Africa Library, XXV, December 1970.
Leigh Hunt 1828
J. Leigh Hunt, Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries, 2 vols, 1828.
Marchand 1957
Leslie Marchand, Byron A Biography, 3 vols., 1957.
Marchand (ed.) 1973-82
Byron's Letters & Journals, 12 vols., ed. Leslie Marchand, 1973-82.
Medwin 1824
Thomas Medwin, Conversations of Lord Byron, 1824.
Moore 1830
Thomas Moore, Life, Letters & Journal of Lord Byron, 2 vols., 1830.
Moore 1961
Doris Langley Moore, The Late Lord Byron, 1961 and subsequent vols.
Moore 1969
Doris Langley Moore, Byronic Dress, 1969.
Parker 1968
Derek Parker, Byron and his World, 1968.
Piper 1982
Sir David Piper, The Image of the Poet, 1982.
Tinto 1936
Mario Tinto, Lorenzo Bartolini, 1936 only mentioning the Westmorland version of NPG 1367.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.