Location: Greece, Athens, British Embassy
My dear Mother,
I have now been some time in Turkey. The place is on the coast but I have traversed the interior of the province of Albania on a visit to the Pacha. I left Malta in the Spider, a brig of war, on the 21st of September and arrived in eight days at Prevesa. I thence have been about 150 miles as far as Tepaleen, his highness' country palace, where I staid three days. The name of the Pacha is Ali, and he is considered a man of the first abilities, he governs the whole of Albania (the ancient Illyricum), Epirus and part of Macedonia. His son Velly Pacha, to whom he has given me letters, governs the Morea and he has great influence in Egypt, in short he is one of the most powerful men in the Ottoman empire. When I reached Yanina the capital after a journey of three days over the mountains through country of the most picturesque beauty, I found that Ali Pacha was with his army in Illyricum besieging Ibraham Pacha in the castle of Berat. He had heard that an Englishman of rank was in his dominion and had left orders in Yanina with the Commandant to provide a house and supply me with every kind of necessary, gratis, and though I have been allowed to make presents to the slaves etc. I have not been permitted to pay for a single article of household consumption. I rode out on the vizier's horses and saw the palaces of himself and grandsons; they are splendid but too much ornamented with silk and gold. MORE
Mavi Boncuk |
Lord Byron was notoriously protective of his image, and directed his publisher John Murray to destroy any engravings of himself that he disliked. One portrait he endorsed was completed in 1813 by the artist Thomas Phillips. It shows Byron wearing Albanian dress[1], ‘the most magnificent in the world,’ Byron thought, which he had acquired while on a Grand Tour of the Mediterranean in 1809[2]. The portrait alludes to his travels and adventurous spirit while presenting the face of a calm and pensive Byron. Known to be moody, by turns gregarious and then sullen, Byron was a man of extremes, both in terms of his character and his deeds. In a candid moment of self-reflection Byron wrote, ‘I am so changeable, being everything by turns and nothing long, - I am such a strange mélange of good and evil, that it would be difficult to describe me’. -
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[1] This portrait of Lord Byron by Thomas Phillips depicts the renowned poet and society figure dressed in traditional Albanian costume. He wears an oriental-style, red velvet jacket and headdress, with a velvet cloak draped across his left arm.
Byron bought the costume in the region of Epirus (part of modern Greece and Albania) in 1809, while on a Grand Tour across southern Europe with his great friend, the politician John Cam Hobhouse (1786–1869). Byron sat for this painting in 1813, at the age of 25, and evidently had some influence over its appearance. He was particularly sensitive to full-length representations of himself as he had suffered from a lame foot since childhood and had a noticeable limp. He also asked Phillips to repaint his nose in a more flattering fashion. In the portrait, the translucent paleness of his skin contrasts with the dark velvet of his costume, inspiring Sir Walter Scott to liken the portrait to a beautiful alabaster lamp, lit from within. The portrait was exhibited to great acclaim at the Royal Academy in 1814. It was later bought by Lady Judith Noel, Byron's mother-in-law, and hung at Kirkby Hall, her residence in Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire.
[2] British poet, Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), set out on a grand tour of the Mediterranean in 1809, in the course of which he visited Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and Asia Minor. His visit to Albania in the autumn of that year made a lasting impression on him and is reflected in the second canto of the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," that catapulted him to fame as a writer in 1812. The first letter here, written to his mother from Albania, betrays much of the excitement he felt on his first journey to the "Orient" and, in particular, at his meeting with the formidable tyrant Ali Pasha of Tepelena (1744-1822), the so-called Lion of Janina. The second letter, written to John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), describes his encounter with Veli Pasha, son of Ali Pasha.
Portrait of George Gordon (1788-1824) 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale in Albanian Dress, 1813 (oil on canvas) Created: estimated 1835; first painted in 1813 Formats: Artwork Creator: Thomas Phillips Held by: National Portrait Gallery Copyright: © National Portrait Gallery Shelfmark: NPG 142
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