Portrait of Lord Byron, British poet (1788–1824)

Thomas Phillips's celebrated 1813 portrait of Lord Byron presents the poet at twenty-five, shortly after the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage made him the most famous literary figure in Europe. Phillips depicted Byron in Albanian costume — a garment he had acquired during his travels to Greece and the Ottoman Empire — exploiting the romantic orientalism that permeated Byron's public image. The portrait became iconic, reproduced widely in engravings and establishing the archetypal image of the Byronic hero: brooding, exotic, and dandiacally handsome. Phillips produced several versions, and the portrait remains the defining image of Byron for later generations.

Phillips renders the Albanian costume with rich, jewel-like colors that complement Byron's dramatic features. The exotic dress, the romantic pose, and the direct, intense gaze combine to create an image that transcends portraiture to become an icon of Romantic self-fashioning.