A Marginal Interest? Byron and the Fine Arts

Abstract

Byron has always been regarded as the possessor of a tin ear when it came to art. But once he took up residence on the Continent in 1816 he could hardly avoid paintings, especially when fellow-travellers like John Polidori, John Cam Hobbhouse and Stendhal insisted on showing him the galleries full of Flemish art in Belgium or Italian old masters in Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome.The essay works out what exactly he saw in all these places, and comments on what he had to say. In particular, it draws together an ‘Italian composite’ of feminine portraits, and ponders the question whether it is style or subject that we respond to in painting.