Thomas Chatterton Manuscript Project
'Paint Me an Angel
To Blow My Name About'
(Mary Chatterton's Anecdote)
Artistic Licence
The Painting, by W.J. Montaigne depicts the anecdote 'Paint me an Angel with a Trumpet,' which Chatterton's sister Mary related to Dr Michael Lort in 1784. The painting was completed 75 years after the anecdote appeared in The Pubic Advertiser, 8th June, 1772. The anecdote indicates that Chatterton was about 5 years at the time. Montaigne uses a little artistic licence and shows Chatterton much older.
Whenever he needed to pay the rent Henry Wallis would knock off a copy of 'The Death of Chatterton.'
His original is on display at the Tate, there's also a copy in Birmingham MAG, and another at Yale, plus hundreds of paintings by copyists.
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Henrietta Ward did the same with her 'Chatterton' painting, with at least two copies of it.
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William John Montaigne (1839-1902) painted his 'Chatterton' in 1847, and also painted copies of his own works.
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And then, of course, there are the countless engravings and prints!
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