Correspondence and Table-Talk

This 1876 two-volume collection of letters and journal extracts from an outspoken artist includes a biography by his son.

Artist, diarist, and devotee of the Elgin Marbles, Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846) is best known for his large-scale paintings and outspoken views. In this two-volume work, first published in 1876, his son provides a memoir and brings together letters to and from eminent correspondents, along with journal extracts.Artist, diarist, and devotee of the Elgin Marbles, Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846) is best known for his large-scale paintings, such as Christ's Entry into Jerusalem and The Raising of Lazarus. After he entered the Royal Academy in 1805 as a student of Henry Fuseli, his forthright views and combative manner fuelled a feud with the institution and perceived enemies. His unshakeable belief in his own genius and his unwillingness to compromise his artistic standards drew him ever further into debt, which ultimately contributed to his suicide. As a writer, Haydon's acute eye for the humorous is demonstrated throughout his correspondence and diary. In this two-volume work, first published in 1876, his son Frederick Wordsworth Haydon (1827–86) brings together letters and extracts from his father's journals. Volume 2 contains selected letters, including those to and from Keats and Wordsworth, along with a host of witty and erudite journal extracts.