The fame of the Romantic poet Lord Byron rests not only on his work but also on the way he looked and the way he was portrayed during his lifetime and after his death. Originating in a conference held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, this is the first collection of papers to be published on the visual aspects of Byron and Romanticism. Topics explored include Byron's relations with the artists who portrayed him and those who commissioned portraits of him (including his publisher); his self-image and its expression in his work; the way in which his features were used in illustrations of the heroes of his poems; his role in early forms of modern celebrity visual culture such as prints, caricatures, medals, and other forms of memorabilia; the way he has been represented on screen; and his role as a political icon, Illustrated.

This book offers a new history and theory of modern celebrity. It argues that celebrity is a cultural apparatus that emerged in response to the Romantic industrialization of print and culture. It investigates the often strained interactions of artistic endeavour and commercial enterprise, and the place of celebrity culture in history of the self.

William Hodges is well known as the artist who accompanied Cook's second voyage to the South Pacific as official landscape painter. This book forms a major reappraisal of his career and reputation, arguing a central place for him in the development of British art. The nine essays included in this catalogue are by some of the foremost scholars in the area. They consider Hodges's work comparatively, in terms of the rise of ethnology, the investigation of Indian history, the encounter with peoples 'without history' and the development of empirical science and rationalism.

For over 50 years between the 1760s and the early 19th century, the pioneers who sailed from Europe to explore the Pacific brought back glimpses of a new world in the form of oil paintings, watercolors and drawings--a sensational view of a part of the world few would ever see. Today these works represent a fascinating and inspiring perspective from the frontier of discovery. It was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularized the placement of professional artists on British ships of exploration. They captured striking and memorable images of everything they encountered: exotic landscapes, beautiful flora and fauna, as well as remarkable portraits of indigenous peoples. These earliest views of the Pacific were designed to promote the new world as enticing, to make it seem familiar, to encourage further exploration and, ultimately, British settlement. Drawing on both private and public collections from around the world, this lavish book collects oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints and other documents from those voyages, and presents a unique glimpse into an age where science and art became irrevocably entwined.