Page 427 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙΙ.9.2
Adam de Friedel (ca. 1780 - ?)
Portrait of Lord Byron
coloured lithograph, 48 × 33 cm
signed: Printed by R. Martin (bottom right)
inscribed: LORD BYRON, (low centre) The Advocate and Supporter
of the Greek Nation. / This Pring forms one of the Series of Greek Portraits / 2nd part now in course of / Publication in London & Paris sold by the principal Book & Printsellers / in Town & Country, 1827 (caption, on the left) Le noble deffense et Soutien de la Nation Grecque / Publié à Londres et à Paris 1827 par A Friedel.- / Ces dessind froment une Serie de Portraits des Grecs / 2ième partie et se trouve chez tous les principaux libraries
et marchands d’estampes à Paris et dans les departements. (caption, on the right)
Michael and Demetra Varkarakis Collection
A PORTRAIT OF LORD BYRON, a loose leaf from the series by Adam Friedel [see cat. no III.8.3].
This series of portrait of heroes of the Greek Revolution would not have been complete without a portrait of Lord Byron, whom Friedel met in Missolonghi in 1824. The portrait of the iconic philhellene was first published in 1825; this version came out in 1827, engraved by T. Fairland and printed by R. Martin. The ro- mantic poet, dressed in the typical style of his homeland, wears an archaic helmet and is presented here as a hero of the Greek Revolution, in which he engaged so actively.
George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)
LORD BYRON (George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron) was born on 22 January in 1788 in London. Offspring of an aristo- cratic family, with bright studies, globetrotte, who at the age of 21 he became a member of the Parliament.
For the first time, he came to Greece in 1809, on a tour from Patras and Tepeleni, where he was put up by Ali Pasha, up to Delphi, Athens but also Istanbul. Byron with his poetic sensi- tivity and knowledge of ancient Greece that distinguished him, was enchanted by the Greek natural beauties and the ruins of ancestry, all of which he imprints in his poetic works, as we can see it for example at the poem “The Pilgrimage of Child Harold”, where the hero is presented to wander around like Odysseus and to record impressions. “If I am a poet, I owe it to the Greek air”, he wrote to a friend of his. In his works like “The Greek Islands”, “The Bride of Abydos”, “Don Juan”, and others, Byron emerges as a poet of worldwide reputation. His worship of Greece is also expressed in the poem “The Curse of Minerva”, in which he is opposed to Lord Elgin for stealing the marbles.
When the Greek Revolution erupted, Byron who was for a long time against the tyrannical regimes, was immediately mobi- lized. In 1823 he became a member of the Philhellenic Commit- tee in London as its representative, distributing supplies to the rebelled. From his own money he sent to Alexandros Mavrokor- datos 4.000 pounds for the maintenance of his fleet. He was well-received with enthusiasm in Missolonghi by the fighting Greeks on 5 January 1824. Again on his own expenses he orga- nized troops and took care of the city barrication. However, his fragile health was irreparably shaken by high fever, and on 19 April 1824 he passed away in Missolonghi, at the young age of 36, spreading bereavement to all the Greeks.
The Greek Parliament has established 19th April in honour of Byron, as day of Philhellenism.
Η ΑΦΥΠΝΙΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Από την αρχαιολατρία στον Φιλελληνισμό 427