Portraits of Coleridge

"What do the portraits of a great poet tell us about his life, his image of himself, and the ideas of him held by his friends and his public? Portraits of Coleridge attempts to answer this question with respect to the author of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and 'Kubla Khan'. It also provides a critical and scholarly study of the portraits as works of art, considering the place of each in the career of the artist who produced it. All the life portraits are discussed in detail, catalogued, and (wherever there is an extant photograph) reproduced." "Both a contribution to the biography of Coleridge and an essay in the history of literary and artistic taste, this book is for readers interested in English poetry, in Romantic portraiture, and in the relationship between literature and the visual arts."--Jacket.