Portrait of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Charles Robert Leslie (1794 - 1859)

Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum

circa 1820

Coleridge told a friend that he did not feel that it was an image that he had 'sat for', but rather was one which 'Lesly (sic) contrived to take'. What is remarkable is that it catches an irregularity in Coleridge's mouth. The mouth was always an area of Coleridge's portrait which he, himself, loathed. The probability is that Coleridge suffered from adenoids, and therefore could not breathe without his mouth being open.

• Medium: pencil, charcoal & chalk
• Dimensions: 30.5 x 26.7cm
• Art Fund Grant: £16378 ( Total: £32,890)
• ArtFunded in: 2005
• Vendor: Bonhams

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