Benjamin Robert Haydon
- Artist: Georgiana Margaretta Zornlin
- Date: 1825
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 27 in. x 22 1/2 in. (686 mm x 572 mm)
- Portrays: Benjamin Robert Haydon
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In front of you stands a portrait of Benjamin Robert Haydon, painted in 1825. The canvas measures about 27 by 22½ inches and is worked in oil, giving the sitter a luminous skin tone and rich, subtle fabric folds. Notice his glasses—slender frames resting on a slightly tipped nose—which frame an eye that seems to look directly at you.
The picture was created by Georgiana Margaretta Zornlin, a writer‑artist who studied under Haydon himself. She recalls working “under his especial superintendence” and even helping mix the colors for the portrait. In the pose he takes—head slightly turned, shoulders relaxed—the painter’s self‑image as a “towering genius” comes alive.
In 1878 Zornlin presented this work to the National Portrait Gallery in London, hoping it would keep his memory alive for future generations of artists and admirers alike.
See it in person
Benjamin Robert Haydon is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
