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

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

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, poetry, male portrait, 19th century costume, Baron

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

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

Title

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

Edition

Proof

Date

published 20 November 1824

Medium

Mezzotint

Acquisition

Purchased from John McMaster, April 1952

GAC number

1508