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Chatterton in Art

'Portraits' of Chatterton

Engravings - Paintings - Sketches - Descriptions

The Latest Spurious 'Portrait of Chatterton'

chatterton portrait spurious  saleroom july 2025 front.jpg
chatterton portrait spurious  saleroom july 2025 back.jpg

Late 18th Century British School - Portrait of the English poet Thomas Chatterton | watercolour

Late 18th / early 19th Century British School
Portrait of the English poet Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770),
inscribed verso 'Thomas Chatterton / died at Brooke St, Holborn / a self poisoning "The sleepless soul, that perished in his pride" Wordsworth, buried in workhouse in Shoe Lane, London',
watercolour on paper,  7.5 x 6cms, 8.5 x 7cms in frame.

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The above images and script are direct from the-Saleroom.com, where this little portrait is being offered for sale at auction in July 2025. 

 

It is being offered as a genuine 'portrait of Chatterton', however the auction house is in error, as the claim made in the note attached to the back of the portrait is spurious. 

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It stands to reason that to verify the claim, the note needs be contemporary with the portrait, and it needs have been painted when Chatterton was alive.  Otherwise, it is just another one of those attempts, when Chatterton's fame was at its height, to increase the value of a little portrait of an unknown man, among a thousand portraits of unknown men.

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Examining the claim in the note:

​The claim is written on a tatty piece of blue paper stuffed into the back of the frame.  The handwriting is of a later period, demonstrated by its general appearance and also by the letter 'P,' which, in the 18th century was often written with an open loop.  The writer of the note needed two attempts to get Chatterton's name right. 

 

More importantly, the lines by Wordsworth, from his poem 'Resolution and Independence,' were not published until 1807, which shows that the note, at its earliest, was written 37 years after the death of Chatterton.  This alone negates the claim that this is a portrait of Chatterton.

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If Chatterton sat to an artist, he would have been given the portrait and would have made a note on the back. The note would be to one or other of his paramours or, more likely, to his mother and sister.

This I can guarantee you, the handwriting on the note is not Chatterton's.

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The rest of these pages detail research by various experts on the question of  'portraits' of Chatterton, they all confirm that no portrait exists - however, there are a couple of descriptions of Chatterton listed further down these pages.

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I know, I know, now that I have placed it on this website, everyone interested in Chatterton will be made aware of it - so be it, it is all grist to the mill, and fun to boot.  (Live Auction July 2025)

Spurious 'Portrait' of Chatterton 

'Portrait' of Chatterton Silhouette cut out oval frame
back silhouette.jpg

I regret to say that the only ‘proof’ of its veracity is the writing on the back of the frame which is as follows : 

'Thomas Chatterton, The Poet, when a boy.'

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The problem with the claim is that Chatterton did not become known as a 'Poet' in his own right until after his death.  So the statement could not have been written until the 1770s, which, if the statement is contemporary with the silhouette, then it cannot be Chatterton 'when a boy'.  The other issue is that the image itself, to my eyes at least, is of a young man in his late teens, dressed in clothes beyond the means of an apprentice Scrivener.

 

One thing we do know, is that Chatterton researchers have been searching for a portrait since the day he became famous - indeed they were looking when his sister was still alive, surely she would have stated if a portrait existed.  

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The lot was sold on the 20th March, at Cheffins Auctioneers - will we ever hear more of this interesting lot.

Control Page for Spurious 'Portraits' of Chatterton

'portrait' number 1 of Chatterton. The goggle eyed 'portrait' 1797

1.   Thomas Chatterton? 1797

chatterton 'portrait' number 4 from C. E.Russell

4.   Thomas Chatterton?  

chatterton 'portrait' number 7

7.   Thomas Chatterton?

'portrait' number 2 of Chatterton 1837

2.   Thomas Chatterton?  1837?

chatterton 'portrait' number 5 from Christies

5.   Thomas Chatterton?

chatterton 'portrait' number 8

8.  Thomas Chatterton?   

Christie's 2005

'portrait' number 3 of Chatterton 1837

3.   Thomas Chatterton? 1837

chatterton 'portrait' number 6 from NPG Unknown boy

6.   Thomas Chatterton?

chatterton 'portrait' number 9 Christies

9.   Thomas Chatterton?

By Gainsborough?

I am currently working on a control page for each of the above portraits.  Click a portrait above for a link to a control  page containing our current knowledge.

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For a definitive report regarding the likelihood of the existence of a genuine portrait of Chatterton, check out The Athenaeum, April 1891  :  View

There are a lot of fanciful representations of Chatterton.  The 'Goggle Eyes' image (no. 1 above), is from The Monthly Visitor in 1797.  It is, to my knowledge, the first time a supposed portrait of Chatterton appeared in print, but without any provenance.  It seems to me that the artist was exaggerating the eyes, based on the claim that Chatterton had eyes that blazed, especially the left eye.

It is worth noting the similarities between this portrait and the supposed portrait of Chatterton (no. 3 above) in Dix's 1837 edition of 'The Life of Thomas Chatterton' ; perchance it shows that the portrait in Dix is, to some degree, derivative.

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Dix had the right idea when he included the portrait in his 1837 edition, as it always helps to be able to put a face to a name - which makes Chatterton less abstract. For this reason I will use portrait number 2, which is the original painting that the engraving in Dix was based on.  The Dix engraved portrait, has become the standard image used since 1837, even though it was proven to be a forgery perpetrated by Dix himself and, according to Mr Hake, a past Keeper of the National Portrait Gallery, it "Persists as a Popular Representation of the Poet."    So, as far as the Chatterton Manuscript Project is concerned, portrait no. 2, is Chatterton's 'Shakespeare bust'. 

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I should add that I agree with Meyerstein's definitive statement : View, that there are no known authentic paintings or engravings of Chatterton.

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However, we do have a handy description of Chatterton. It was written by William Seward on the endpapers of an edition of Gregory's The Life of Chatterton (1789).  The book was bought at auction by  J. T. Rutt and published by him in a letter to The Monthly Repository for 1809, it then went missing until rediscovered at another auction in 2018.  

 

We also have a couple of descriptions by Chatterton's sister, Mary ; one of which she related to W. H.Ireland and the other by letter to Sir Herbert Croft, both are a joy. 

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  • Word Portraits of Famous Writers.  Edited by Mabel E. Wotton, 1887  :  View

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The question is, do any of the descriptions point to a specific image?   Probably not, but I welcome the views of my readers.

The Infamous Dix  'Portrait' of Chatterton

Chatterton 'portrait' number 3, from Dix 1837.  Front of postcard
Chatterton 'portrait' number 3, from Dix 1837.  Front of postcard

Click an image to see a close-up view

A rare postcard with Chatterton's 'Portrait.'  The same image was used by Dix as a frontispiece in the first edition of his book, The Life of Thomas Chatterton.'  The postcard has a space for a 1/2d stamp, which dates the card to around 1894  :  View postal rates

The rear of the card has a transcript of a letter written by George Burge, which claims the portrait is of a boy named F. Morris, aged 13, the son of the Artist.

Chatterton 'portrait' number 4, compare to John Eagles4

4.   Thomas Chatterton?  

John Eagles by Branwhite

John Eagles 

When I first saw the portrait of John Eagles, above, I was struck by the similarities of his facial profile when compared to Chatterton's 'portrait' No. 4.  A coincidence creeps in when you know that John Eagles' father, Thomas Eagles, was a friend of George Catcott.

Chatterton life size Model

A life size model in wax.

chatterton statue stood outside St Mary Redcliffe

Statue of Chatterton that stood outside St Mary Redcliffe

Colston boy from the time of Chatterton

Colston Boy . Bristol

Probably a copy of the original 

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