Images(2)

Bust of Lord Byron

Bertel Thorvaldsen (Danish, 1770–1844)

1821

Object PlaceRome, Italy

Medium/TechniqueStone; Marble

DimensionsOverall (Dimensions of bust, width and depth at base): 45.1 x 23 x 17.5 cm, 30.8 kg (17 3/4 x 9 1/16 x 6 7/8 in., 68 lb.)
Other (Dimensions of socle): 14.6 x 23.5 cm (5 3/4 x 9 1/4 in.)

Credit LineGift of T. Jefferson Coolidge

Accession number20.1628

On View

On view

ClassificationsSculpture

Collections

Europe

InscriptionsMonogram on back of bust AT [with the T inside the A]Provenance1821, sold by the artist in Rome to Joseph Coolidge (b. 1798 - d. 1879), Boston (original commission) [see note 1]; by descent to his son, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (b. 1831 - d. 1920), Boston; 1920, gift of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 21, 1920)

NOTES:
[1] This sculpture replicates Thorvaldsen's 1817 bust of Lord Byron (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). Byron himself wrote in 1821 that "a young American named Coolidge called on me many months ago...and told me that he (Mr. Coolidge) had obtained a copy of my bust from Thorwal[d]sen at Rome to send to America." See 'In the Wind's Eye': Byron's Letter and Journals, ed. Leslie A. Marchand, vol. 9 (1821-1822), pp. 20-21, no. 25.