Shelley, Keats and Byron

[poliphilo]

The other great early 19th century writer of whom there are no decent portraits is Shelley. (I mean Percy not Mary). This is odd, given that Shelley was a wealthy  aristo and very much in love with himself. The one authentic adult portrait- by Amelia Curran- is horribly bland and- though Mary begged it off the artist- generally regarded as a poor likeness.

Here it is, anyway.



And here's Mary in her early 40s.



There are several rather good portraits of Keats- including a life mask and a death mask- but then Keats- though only a middle-class vulgarian- had friends who were artists.

Here's one I hadn't seen before- a charming silhouette by Marianne Hunt. 



There are, of course, lots and lots of portraits of Byron. Most of them serve the legend. Here's one (by Count d'Orsay) that subverts it, showing him as nervy, querulous and (unmistakeably) balding. 

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

But the Victorians did rather overlook the political radicalism of the romantics, didn't they- reducing them to singers of sweet songs- or at least that's the impression I get from browsing through my Palgrave.