Abstract

Lord Byron is one of the most striking nineteenth-century examples of an icon in the modern sense of the word. Far into the nineteenth century Byron and the main characters from his poems remained models for the rebellious ‘romantic’ hero: a modern version of Milton's fallen angel. Much has been written about Byron's work, life and reputation. This enduring interest makes ‘Byron’ ideally suited for a demonstration of research into the historical development of an iconic person as a cultural model. The chapter analyses the Dutch reception of Byron and shows its entanglement with the discussion about the ‘un-Dutch’ character of Romanticism. Paradoxically, there was also an appropriation of Byron, resulting in a Christian ‘light’ version of the ‘Byronic hero’.

Keywords: Lord Byron, icon as cultural model, mythologization, European and Dutch appropriation, modern Prometheus and Lucifer

Yesterday I read Cain and I was truly filled with horror. The text is beautiful, it's terribly beautiful, resembling the poet's physiognomy and the way he portrayed Lucifer. Now I dare to say that I know this man and his soul. Today I bought his portrait, which I’m sending you for amusement, begging you to return it to me as soon as possible. You will notice the man of genius, the sensitive poet, the son of kings, the English Lord; but also, alas!, the melancholic doubter and libertine, spoilt by the spleen and philosophy of our days. His eyes, as beautiful as they may be, show the opposite of the divine resignation of the adorable saviour's face, and the beastly powerful back of the head and neck all show the seducer and the author of Don Juan. Powerful in his striving for evil; and yet weak: this is how he apparently looks; and whilst wrestling with sombre violence against his nature's limitations, he turns out to be a toy for the evil spirit, that turns his glorious talent into sin, thus proving the meaning of Providence: the greatest freedom consisting in the humblest subjugation to the Heavenly Father […] A resemblance with the Apollo is there, but it is well known that the Apollo when slightly changed gets an infernal expression;