Derwent Coleridge; Mary Coleridge (née Pridham)

Sittersback to top

• Derwent Coleridge (1800-1883), Writer, linguist and educationalist. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
• Mary Coleridge (née Pridham) (1807-1887), Wife of Derwent Coleridge. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify

Artistback to top

• Unknown photographer, Photographer. Artist associated with 6571 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The second son of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Derwent was educated with his brother Hartley at a small school near Ambleside, where Southey and Wordsworth watched over them. His later career was dedicated to education and the church, and he was the first principal of St Mark's College, Chelsea. He is seen in this ambrotype together with his wife Mary Pridham whom he married in 1827. Although the photographer is unknown, there is a placard on the table which appears to read 'Field Phot. Aug. 19 1856', a novel way of dating a photograph.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Rogers, Malcolm, Camera Portraits, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 October 1989 - 21 January 1990), p. 37 Read entry

  The second son of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Derwent was educated with his brother Hartley at a small school near Ambleside, where Southey and Wordsworth watched over them. His later career was dedicated to education and the church, and he was the first principal of St Mark's College, Chelsea (1841-64). He was a passionate believer in the teaching of Latin as a form of mental training, and considered the most accomplished linguist in England. Expert in all the major European languages, he knew Hungarian and Welsh poetry, and could read Arabic, Coptic, Zulu and Hawaiian.

  This ambrotype shows him with his wife, whom he married in 1827, and is unusual in being precisely datable. Among the still-life of objects on the table is a ?calendar lettered: FIELD FOOT AUG 19 1856, and the watch on a stand gives the time as ten minutes past one. The Gallery also owns an ambrotype of Derwent alone, from the same sitting, taken, if the watch is to be believed, at seven minutes to eleven. The significance of 'Field Foot' is unknown, but may perhaps be the name of the otherwise unrecorded photographer.

• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 135

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Couples
• Double portraits

Events of 1856back to top

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