Byron: The Image of the Poet

(HS-38)"The fame of the Romantic poet Lord Byron rests not only on his work but also on the way he looked and the way he was portrayed during his lifetime and after his death. Originating in a conference held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, this is the first collection of papers to be published on the visual aspects of Byron and Byronism. Topics explored include Byron's relations with the artists who sketched, painted, and sculpted him and those who commissioned portraits of him (including his publisher); his self-image and its expression in his work; the way in which his features were used in illustrations of the heroes of his poems; his role in the early forms of modern celebrity culture such as prints, medals, and other forms of memorabilia; the way he has been represented on screen; and his role as a political icon. Discussion of the relationship between the different literary "Byrons" created by the poet has long been a part of Byron commentary. Less well explored is the wide range of visual manifestations of Byron: not only those recorded ad vivum (face to face) with the poet, and not only the "authorized" paintings and busts whose production Byron tried to control during his lifetime, but also the caricatures, informal sketches, engravings, memorabilia, and the film portrayals through which Byron and his image have been presented and interpreted in the nearly two centuries since his death. This range of representations demonstrates the trajectory from Byron to Byronism: from the poet (who may or may not be identified with the "real" George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale) to the mythic persona that is the creation not just of Byron but also of many other hands. These papers study Byron as an object as well as a subject in terms of cultural production. " (Publisher)