Edgar Allan Poe would not grace the covers of GQ magazine if he were still alive today. But a new portrait shows a more charming side of the writer.
On Saturday a small watercolor of Poe will be revealed in Baltimore as part of Poe’s birthday celebration. The portrait shows Poe sitting at a desk with pen and paper in hand. Apparently the mustache is not there and we even catch an attempt at a smile.
The AP describes it in more detail:
Poe sits at a desk with pen and paper in hand, seemingly at the height of his creative powers. His upper lip is clean-shaven, though he sports long, bushy sideburns. And there's the slightest hint of a smile on his face.
"It actually represents Poe as he appeared to his contemporaries -- a handsome, sophisticated young man on the rise," said Cliff Krainik, the owner of the portrait and a Poe scholar. "The daguerreotypes show him in his rather dissipated state, where he has gone through the difficulties of his life."
This artwork by A.C. Smith is one of a kind. It’s one of just three existing portraits of Poe. The owner plans to sell the picture for $30,000 to $50,000. That’s a conservative estimate according to Krainik.
