Friday, June 29, 2012

Benjamin Robert Haydon

Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) was a British painter of historical scenes and portraits. We start with his portraits of the two great adversaries of the Napoleonic Wars: the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon himself. They seem to be studying each other from a distance, don't they?

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1839)
 Napoleon Bonaparte (1830)

 The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840 (1841)

Chairing the Member (1828)
[I have no idea what this painting is about. Can anyone shed some light on it?]

William Wordsworth (1842)

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

by William Wordsworth
A slumber did my spirit seal
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.

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  1. anonAugust 13, 2016 at 9:03 AM

    "Chairing the member" refers to carrying the victor of an election through the streets. This could be riotous, given the free-flowing alcohol that both sides used to get the vote out and in their favour. Hogarth also painted this subject.

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