Emma Hamilton : seduction & celebrity / edited by Quintin Colville with Kate Williams.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Colville, Quintin, editor.

Williams, Kate, 1974- editor.

Royal Museums Greenwich, issuing body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hamilton, Emma, Lady, 1765-1815.

Hamilton, Emma.

Hamilton, Emma, Lady, 1765-1815--Exhibitions.

Ambassadors' spouses--Great Britain--Biography.

Ambassadors' spouses.

Great Britain.

Mistresses--Great Britain--Biography.

Mistresses.

Genre:

Biographies.

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

280 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 28 cm

Other Title:

Emma Hamilton : seduction and celebrity

Place of Publication:

London : Thames & Hudson Ltd, in association with Royal Museums Greenwich, 2016.

Summary:

Accompanying a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, showing from November 2016 to April 2017, this book provides a fresh evaluation of Emma Hamilton's artistic undertakings, cultural achievements and legacy. From humble origins, Emma Hamilton rose to national and international fame as a model, performer, trendsetter and interpreter of neoclassical fashion. Yet, the host of books and films in which she has featured typically place her in a passive and supporting role. Emma is often presented as the muse to painters such as George Romney, or partially obscured by the reputation of her lover, Horatio Nelson, hero of naval battles in the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). The tragic trajectory of her life, from childhood prostitution to final destitution and neglect, has also been used to present her story as by turns sordid and ridiculous. This landmark publication recovers Emma from myth and misrepresentation, and reveals her as an active and influential historical actor in her own right. The arc of this life, her ambitions, creative endeavours, successes and hardships is viewed through a new lens, one that places her in a wider context of female celebrity in a society that severely restricted womens opportunities and in which divorce was a far greater shame than infidelity or cruelty.

Contents:

Introduction: re-imagining Emma Hamilton / Quintin Colville

Early years: sexual exploitation and the lure of London / Vic Gatrell

Romney's muse: a creative partnetship in portraiture / Christine Riding

A classical education: Naples and the heart of European culture / Jason M. Kelly

International celebrity: an artist on her own terms? / Gillian Russell

Emma and Nelson: icon and mistress of the nation's hero / Margarette Lincoln

Decline and fall: social insecurity and financial ruin / Hannah Greig

Epilogue: Emma Hamilton in fiction and film / Kate Williams.

Notes:

Published to accompany the exhibition, Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780500252208

0500252203

OCLC:

964291162