Portrait of Wordsworth

This, the most important portrait of William Wordsworth to come to light this century, is by the artist and diarist Benjamin Robert Haydon, and was probably the last in a series of sketches for his huge 'history painting' Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, now in the US. In that work, Haydon placed a lively John Keats next to the older poet, whom he shows in characteristically sombre mood, with what Hazlitt called 'his drooping weight of thought'. This drawing is now on display at the Wordsworth Museum, Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SH. Tel: 05394-35544

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