George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824) poet

Location

Country: Switzerland
City: Berne
Place: British Embassy

This mezzotint showing the portrait of Lord Byron taken after Thomas Phillips’ portrait at Newstead Abbey shows the renowned poet and society figure adopting a studied pose, typical of the Romantic age, with his head turned to the left and resting his right hand on a table. He is wrapped in a black cloak which covers an immaculate shirt. 

The image of Lord Byron has been an important factor in the cult of the poet, both during his lifetime and after his death. Byron took a keen interest in his own portrait and its ability to shape his public persona. The Government Art collection includes the celebrated portrait of Byron painted by Thomas Phillips, showing him in Albanian dress, as well as two busts, an original letter by the poet, a view of Newstead Abbey (his home for a time) and a selection of the many prints associated with him. The portraits present the heroic, romantic image that Byron helped to cultivate and together the works illustrate the remarkable life of one of Britain’s most popular poets. 

Thomas Phillips was born in Dudley, Warwickshire, of modest means. He took up an apprenticeship with a stained glass painter, before moving to London in 1790 to study at the Royal Academy and work in the studio of Sir Benjamin West. Phillips exhibited work at the Academy between 1794 and 1844. In 1808, he was elected a Royal Academician and, in 1825, succeeded Henry Fuseli as Professor of Painting at the Academy. Phillips was a prolific artist, as demonstrated by the 859 portraits listed in his sitters’ notebook. However, today only about 300 portraits by the artist are known to survive.
Engraver Thomas Goff Lupton was born in Clerkenwell, London; the son of a goldsmith. He trained under engraver George Clint. Lupton produced the first soft steel plates, able to print considerably more copies than copper plates, for which he was awarded the ‘Isis medal’ of the Society of Arts in 1822. He was employed by J. M. W. Turner on ‘Liber Studiorum’ (1807-19) and in 1825 six of his plates after Turner were published as ‘Views of the Ports of England’; reissued with six more as ‘The Harbours of England’ (1856 ; text by Ruskin). Lupton engraved numerous portraits after artists including Lawrence and Reynolds, and also exhibited pastels at the Royal Academy. He was elected President of the Artists' Annuity Fund (1836). He died aged 81.

People

George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron Byron (1788 - 1824)

Places

Subjects

poet, male portrait, 19th century costume

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

Thomas Phillips (1770 - 1845)
Thomas Goff Lupton (1791 - 1873)

Title

George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824) poet

Date

published 1824

Medium

Mezzotint

Dimensions

width: 23.60 cm, height: 33.60 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Grosvenor Prints, May 2002

Provenance

With Grosvenor Prints, London; from whom purchased by the Government Art Collection in May 2002

GAC number

17694