Page 324 - Beholding Liberty!

324 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
II.8.B.8
Unknown artist
Portrait of Byron
metal plaque, 15 x 12 cm
Michael and Demetra Varkarakis Collection
MADE BY AN UNKNOWN ARTIST, probably in the second half of the nineteenth century, this plate features a portrait of Byron in
II.8.B.9
Company “Chocolat Poulain”
Lord Byron dressed in Greek costume, ca. 1905 advertising print, 13 x 11 cm
Michael and Demetra Varkarakis Collection
A RARE ARTISTIC AND HISTORICAL
document of the early-twentieth century, this colour print is an advertisement of Poulain chocolate fac- tory, founded in 1847 in Blois, France. Lord Byron, in a heroic pose, facing right, is dressed in a Greek out- fit (a fustanella kilt and a fermeli vest) and armed. The fact that an image of Byron is used here for promotional purposes by a consumer product manu- facturer some 80 years after the poet’s death is tes- tament to his lasting influence in visual culture. The fact that he is depicted in Greek dress documents Byron’s identification by the international public with the Greek cause.
ΙΙ.8.B.10
profile, set within a decorative frame, retaining the standard features seen in the poet’s earlier portraits.
Document of the Executive in relation to the conferment of honours on the deceased Lord Byron
(Myloi of Nafplio, 19 April 1824)
Archives of the Greek Regeneration, vol. 10, no 403 [p. 278] Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE EXECUTIVE, which with inconsolable sorrow received the news about the transition of «Monseigneur» Byron «to eternal cloisters», ap-
proves the enactment of the customary for paying tribute and expresses the gratitude of the Greek people to the great Philhellene, lord Byron.