Byron's Early Love, 'A Dream of Annesley Hall'

Edward Matthew Ward 1816 - 1879

Summary

A scene depicting the young Lord Byron spying through a window at Annesley Hall, where a party is in full swing. Byron stands cloaked in darkness, kneeling on a long bench along the outside wall to the right, leaning towards an open window to the left. Through the window couples can be seen dancing in a brightly lit ballroom. A young woman in the centre of the room turns her head toward the window. There is a rose bush in the bottom left corner beneath the window.

Display Label

Byron’s Early Love, ‘A Dream of Annesley Hall’ 1856 Edward Matthew Ward 1816 - 79 Oil on canvas As a youth, the Romantic poet Byron was infatuated with his neighbour, Mary Chaworth. Here he watches her dancing with her betrothed at a ball in her home, Annesley Hall, in 1805. The painting is full of symbolic meaning. Roses with thorns refer to the beauty and pain of love, while the lovesick poet’s exclusion from the warm room is emphasised by the cold moonlight outside. Sir Charles E. Swann gift 1917.273