Art | Exhibitions | Nelson's Muse: Lady Hamilton and her Attitudes
21
October 2005 -
15 January 2006
Education Gallery
Nelson’s Muse:
Lady Hamilton and her Attitudes
Celebrating the bicentenary of Admiral Lord Nelson’s great victory at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, this exhibition explores the more private side of his frenetic life. Horatio Nelson first met Emma Hamilton in 1793 at Naples, where he was posted as captain of the Agamemnon and she was wife of the British ambassador. They became lovers, and, in 1801 she gave birth to his daughter, Horatia. Lady Hamilton was already notorious for her highly unconventional lifestyle, including her forays into acting. The exhibition features Tommaso Piroli’s Drawings faithfully copied from Nature at Naples, a series of hand-coloured etchings of her famous 'attitudes' (poses in classical costume), published in 1794. Never shown at the Barber Institute before, these are displayed together with an anonymous set of satirical British pastiches and a newly acquired mezzotint of Lord Nelson. All the works have been specially conserved for this exhibition.