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Charles Lamb

2 of 11 portraits of Charles Lamb

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Charles Lamb

by William Hazlitt
oil on canvas, 1804
30 in. x 24 1/2 in. (762 mm x 622 mm)
Purchased, 1878
Primary Collection
NPG 507

Sitterback to top

  • Charles Lamb (1775-1834), Essayist and poet. Sitter in 11 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • William Hazlitt (1778-1830), Essayist, journalist and critic. Artist or producer of 1 portrait, Sitter in 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This affectionate portrait shows Lamb dressed as Velázquez's Philip IV. It was one of the last portraits Hazlitt painted before dedicating himself to writing.

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1804back to top

Current affairs

William Pitt returns to office and forms a second coalition administration, retaining many of those who had served under his predecessor Henry Addington but specifically excluding his arch rival Charles James Fox .

Art and science

William Blake starts writing Jerusalem. One of his most ambitious allegorical poems, it took nearly eight years to complete.
Amidst infighting about submissions to the annual exhibition, attempts are made to unseat painter Benjamin West as President of the Royal Academy and elect architect James Wyatt instead.

International

Napoleon declares himself Emperor of France and is crowned as Napoleon I by Pope Pius VII in Paris.
Haiti achieves independence led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, the patriot and martyr who had seized control from the French in 1801. He becomes a symbolic figure of freedom for the British anti-slavery movement.

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