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Lady Caroline Lamb was a competent sketch artist and water-colorist who often put down images of her fancy or attempted portraiture of herself, her family, Lord Byron, and others. Her most ambitious project was to create a series of images for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Cantos 1 and 2), a project undertaken not long after her she began affair with Byron. Of this project, only two drawings are known to survive. These watercolors and a sampling of Lady Caroline's sketches here prove what Margot Strickland writes in her 1983 article, "A Life of Art and Pain", that LCL's artwork "possesses her irresistible, indefinable charm and puckish humour, with a degree of individuality that denotes genius; it is instantly recognisable as hers."
One of LCL's dogs (with a fairy riding on its back), in a book of poems held in the Hertfordshire Archives. Perhaps it is one of the pack of dogs she listed in a letter of 1797 when she was an eleven year old tomboy: "Tango, Patza, Bambine, Prince, Venture, Vixon, Ceazer, Suvent, or Jock."
A sketch copying Maria Cosway's portrait of William Lamb as a baby. It appears as the frontispiece to the book of stories and poems she gave her cousin Georgiana in 1807.
LCL sketched herself as Titania, pursued here by demons, in an 1805 letter meant to pacify her cousin "Hart" (future 6th Duke of Devonshire), who was devastated that she was to marry William Lamb instead of himself. She described herself as "doomed to become a mortal bride." Chatsworth Archive.
A sketch to accompany LCL's poem titled "The Spirit Monalba's Song," in the book of stories and poems she gave her cousin Georgiana in 1807: "Oh that now my wings could bear me / Through the unnumberd realms of air..."
A sketch memorializing LCL's coming-out in Paris (1802): "Farewell to England and farewell to frocks. Now France I hail thee with a sweeping train," she wrote. She imagined leaving her old self and her dogs behind.
"Un soupçon cruel le déchire" (A cruel suspicion tears him apart). A version of this sketch appears in LCL's book of poems held in the Hertfordshire Archives.
Putto (cherub) writing with a quill--to accompany a poem on Opium in the book of stories and poems LCL gave her cousin Georgiana in 1807, which begins "Oh balm of nature to the mind opprest..."
LCL's affectionate sketch, probably of her spaniel, titled "That most confectionate dog."
"Le désespoir met fin a ses jour" (Despair ends his days), a sketch to accompany her poem beginning, "Vain thy anger, vain thy care..." included in a book of poems LCL created. Hertfordshire Records Office.
"The English Matrons Walzing," included in a book of poems LCL created, held in the Hertfordshire Records Office.
"The Walze," a sketch for her poem beginning, "Did ever man a woman love / And listen to her flattery..." included in a book of poems LCL created, held in the Hertfordshire Records Office.
Sketch of LCL's son Augustus, age six. Hertfordshire Records Office.
Sketch of William Lamb included in the book of stories and poems LCL gave her cousin Georgiana in 1807. Castle Howard.
LCL's sketch of Augustus (left), Caroline (right), and William (center). John Murray Archive, National Library of Scotland.
LCL's portrait of her mother-in-law, Lady Melbourne.
LCL's sketch of George Lamb, William's brother, with leg over the back of the couch, "the family attitude" as LCL calls it.
LCL's sketch of William Lamb with his leg over the back of the couch, "the family attitude" as LCL calls it.
One of two known illustrations by LCL for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos 1 and 2: "On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone, / And winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay..." (1:14). "Blow! swiftly blow, thou keel-compelling gale! / Till the broad sun withdraws his lessening ray..." (2:20).
Illustration for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos 1 and 2: "And thou my friend!--since unavailing woe / Bursts from my heart, and mingles with the strain-- / ...thus unlaurel'd to descend in vain, / By all forgotten, save the lonely breast... / What had'st thou done to sink so peacefully to rest?" (1:91).
LCL's sketch of Lord and Lady Byron, 1815. Held in the John Murray Archive, National Library of Scotland.
LCL's self-portrait as "The Last Rose of Summer." Stansted Collection.
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