George Dawe, R.A., 1781-1829

Bernard, 1st Baron Coleridge, The Story of a Devonshire House, London 1905, ill. p. 191;
Morton D. Paley, Portraits of Coleridge, Oxford, 1999

The present lot depicts Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet, critic, and philosopher, who was born on 21 October 1772, the youngest brother of James Coleridge, the "Colonel". He was believed to be a child prodigy and certainly he claimed ‘never [to have] thought as a Child’. He studied at Jesus College, Cambridge in the early 1790’s, spent a brief period with the 15^th Light Dragoon Guards as a penniless post graduate, from which he was rescued by James Coleridge, and enjoyed a long friendship with William Wordsworth. George Dawe was an associate member of the Royal Academy, winning a gold medal in 1803 and elected R. A. in 1814.

In 1811 Dawe took a plaster cast of the head of Coleridge with the intention of producing a ceramic bust, as well as producing the current portrait drawing in crayon. The cast pleased Coleridge so much he wrote to Sir George Beaumont that “Mr. Dawe, Royal Associate, who plaistered my face for me, says that he never saw so excellent a Mask”. According to Coleridge’s friend Henry Crabb Robinson commented that “His forehead and eyebrows are singularly striking, and I was never before so impressed with power expressed in his countenance”. The trueness to life that is visible in the cast is also reflected in the portrait drawing which Coleridge very much liked, describing it as “a chalk drawing of my face which I think far more like than any former attempt.” Dawe initially only drew the head of Coleridge, taken from the earlier cast, intending to work it up into a larger full length portrait. However this did not materialise so the artist added a second sheet of paper on which he drew the body as it is seen in the current work.

Dawe depicts Coleridge during the time he was giving a series of lectures between 1811-12, acknowledged by the inclusion of the large volumes of books which are both beside him and held in his hand. Two of the books on the table he rests upon are titled Platon vol. VII and Platon vol. VIII on their spines. Dawe’s drawing, painting and bust were all exhibited at the Royal Academy but the current lot appears to be the sole visual representation of the poet between 1809-1813. Dawe captures brilliantly the contemplative character of this great romantic poet with a sensitivity of handling that is so typical of the artist’s style.