Master Charlatan - Thomas Chatterton 1752 to 1770

Thomas Chatterton died of arsenic poisoning from either suicide or attempting self-medication. Yet in his short time, he set the pretentious artistic world alight. 

In a way, he mocked much of the snobbery of the artistic world. And then, this very world made an icon of him. Immortalised by the very establishment, he tricked. He kicked down the door and gatecrashed a society full of self-obsessed people. Individuals with a complete conviction of vanity.

Thomas Chatterton never lived to be 18 years of age. He was born in 1752 and died in 1770. In his brief time he was recognised as an English poet, but most of all; a talented forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He became the late darling of the (soon to come) Romantic Movement. A Punk Rocker of his age. 

As a youngster, he found parchment deeds in the north side of the nave of St Mary's Church, Redcliffe in Bristol.

The young Chatterton would seclude himself within the attic of his house and from the parchments recreate and invent writings by pseudo-medieval poets - pretending to have discovered lost works.

He managed to trick many reputable people before moving to London in the final year of his life. He had also caused some mayhem among these many prominent people, through his forged writings. 

In London, the young seventeen-year-old Thomas Chatterton embarked on a new project. Another scam. He pretended he had found the lost works of a play. 

The young seventeen-year-old poet would burn his way into legend because of his young death and pastiche romantic verse. Many see him as a young Adonis. The famous artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott all revered the late young icon despite his attempts as a confidence trickster.  The French romantics enthusiastically praised the name and memory of Thomas Chatterton as an example of poetic genius. Alfred de Vigny wrote a diabolically inaccurate play about the young man. There was also an opera inspired by the young charlatan too. It was by Ruggero Leoncavallo.


Below is a site with more info on the young and infamous Thomas Chatterton.