Robert Southey

Robert Southey (1774-1843), Poet Laureate.

This bust of the poet and historian Robert Southey was commissioned by his publisher, John Murray, but not accepted. Southey refused to give further sittings, writing caustically that as Chantrey was 'perfectly acquainted with the outside of my head, I have desired Murray to send him a book which will show him the inside of it'.