Wie sah Lord Byron aus? | Die Gesichter der Geschichte — AI reconstruction based on 3 historical sources

KI-Rekonstruktion

Romantic era · 1788–1824

Lord Byron

Belege: Starke BelegeDargestelltes Alter: ~25

Rekonstruiert aus

Thomas Phillips, Portrait of Lord Byron in Albanian Dress, 1813, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

Richard Westall, Portrait of Lord Byron, c. 1813, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

The poet who invented the celebrity. Painted from life by Thomas Phillips and Richard Westall, obsessively described by lovers and enemies alike, Byron was the most recognised face of his generation.

Lord Byron was, by every surviving account, almost unreasonably good-looking. His face launched a thousand poems and at least as many love affairs. Thomas Phillips painted him from life in 1813, producing the famous Albanian dress portrait that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. Richard Westall also painted him from life, and several other portraitists captured him during his years of peak celebrity in London.

The consistency across these portraits and the written record is strong. Byron had curly auburn-brown hair, grey eyes, a pale complexion, and a slightly cleft chin. His face was oval with fine, regular features. Lady Caroline Lamb, who knew him intimately, called him "mad, bad, and dangerous to know," a line that tells us more about his effect on people than his bone structure, but she and others also described him as "beautifully handsome."

What the portraits do not show is his club foot. Byron was born with a talipes equinovarus deformity of the right foot, which caused him a pronounced limp. He was deeply self-conscious about it and went to some lengths to conceal it in portraits and in person. His relationship with his own body was complicated in other ways too: he was vain about his face but struggled with his weight throughout his life, swinging between extreme thinness (achieved through punishing diets of vinegar and biscuits) and a heavier build that distressed him. At the time of the Phillips portrait he was lean and at the height of his beauty.

Körperliche Beschreibung

GrößeAbout 5'8" (173 cm); tall enough to be considered well-proportioned, though his limp affected his carriageBelegt

KörperbauFluctuated between slender and heavy throughout his life; at 25 (the depicted age) he was lean and fit through rigorous dieting and swimmingBelegt

GesichtOval, with regular and symmetrical features; widely described as classically handsomeBelegt

TeintVery pale, almost marble-white; this pallor was considered part of his beautyBelegt

AugenGrey, large, expressive; often described as his most captivating featureBelegt

BrauenWell-defined, slightly arched; a high forehead partially covered by curlsBelegt

NaseStraight and well-proportioned; described as a fine, classic profileBelegt

MundFull, well-shaped lips; described as sensualBelegt

Kiefer und KinnA slightly cleft chin; clean jawlineBelegt

HaarCurly auburn-brown (sometimes described as chestnut); worn long in the Romantic style, tumbling across his foreheadBelegt

GesichtsbehaarungClean-shaven in most portraits; occasionally shown with slight sideburnsBelegt

Besondere MerkmaleClub foot (right foot, talipes equinovarus), which caused a pronounced limp; cleft chin; the famous curls; an almost theatrical handsomeness that contemporaries found impossible to ignoreBelegt

AusdruckBrooding, melancholic, self-consciously dramatic; he cultivated the look that would become the Byronic archetypeAbgeleitet

Die Belege

Compiled contemporary descriptions from Lady Caroline Lamb, John Cam Hobhouse, Teresa Guiccioli, Thomas Moore, and others, 1812–1824

Byron's appearance was described in detail by lovers, friends, and rivals. Lady Caroline Lamb's "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" is the most famous line, but she and others also left precise physical descriptions. Hobhouse, Byron's closest friend, provides particularly reliable accounts.

“Lady Caroline Lamb on first seeing Byron at a ball (1812): "That beautiful pale face is my fate." She later described him as having a "beautifully handsome" face with grey eyes and auburn curls.”

Was uns diese Quelle sagt

GrößeAbout 5'8" (173 cm); tall enough to be considered well-proportioned, though his limp affected his carriageBelegt

KörperbauFluctuated between slender and heavy throughout his life; at 25 (the depicted age) he was lean and fit through rigorous dieting and swimmingBelegt

GesichtOval, with regular and symmetrical features; widely described as classically handsomeBelegt

TeintVery pale, almost marble-white; this pallor was considered part of his beautyBelegt

AugenGrey, large, expressive; often described as his most captivating featureBelegt

MundFull, well-shaped lips; described as sensualBelegt

Kiefer und KinnA slightly cleft chin; clean jawlineBelegt

HaarCurly auburn-brown (sometimes described as chestnut); worn long in the Romantic style, tumbling across his foreheadBelegt

AusdruckBrooding, melancholic, self-consciously dramatic; he cultivated the look that would become the Byronic archetypeAbgeleitet

Thomas Phillips, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Phillips, Portrait of Lord Byron in Albanian Dress, 1813, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

The most famous portrait of Byron, painted from life when he was 25. Byron sat for Phillips wearing the Albanian costume he had acquired during his Grand Tour. This is the defining image of the Romantic poet.

Was uns diese Quelle sagt

KörperbauFluctuated between slender and heavy throughout his life; at 25 (the depicted age) he was lean and fit through rigorous dieting and swimmingBelegt

GesichtOval, with regular and symmetrical features; widely described as classically handsomeBelegt

AugenGrey, large, expressive; often described as his most captivating featureBelegt

BrauenWell-defined, slightly arched; a high forehead partially covered by curlsBelegt

NaseStraight and well-proportioned; described as a fine, classic profileBelegt

MundFull, well-shaped lips; described as sensualBelegt

Kiefer und KinnA slightly cleft chin; clean jawlineBelegt

HaarCurly auburn-brown (sometimes described as chestnut); worn long in the Romantic style, tumbling across his foreheadBelegt

GesichtsbehaarungClean-shaven in most portraits; occasionally shown with slight sideburnsBelegt

AusdruckBrooding, melancholic, self-consciously dramatic; he cultivated the look that would become the Byronic archetypeAbgeleitet

Richard Westall, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Richard Westall, Portrait of Lord Byron, c. 1813, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London

Another lifetime portrait by a leading painter. Westall's depiction is more conventionally posed than Phillips's but confirms the same facial features: oval face, curly auburn hair, grey eyes, cleft chin.

Was uns diese Quelle sagt

GesichtOval, with regular and symmetrical features; widely described as classically handsomeBelegt

BrauenWell-defined, slightly arched; a high forehead partially covered by curlsBelegt

NaseStraight and well-proportioned; described as a fine, classic profileBelegt

HaarCurly auburn-brown (sometimes described as chestnut); worn long in the Romantic style, tumbling across his foreheadBelegt

GesichtsbehaarungClean-shaven in most portraits; occasionally shown with slight sideburnsBelegt

Wo sich die Quellen widersprechen

Hair colour is described variously as auburn, chestnut, and dark brown. The truth is likely a warm brown that appeared more reddish in certain light. Surviving hair samples are dark brown.

Eye colour: most sources say grey, a few say blue-grey or hazel. Grey is the consensus across the major portraits.