This is the story of Mary Robinson (1752-1800), poet, actress and fashion icon who attracted the attention of the future George lV while playing Perdita in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Famed for her beauty, and notorious for her liaisons with the prince and others, Mary would be painted by Romney, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Hoppner, and would be the subject of lurid caricatures. However, from childhood she had also written serious poetry. In later life, after a crippling accident, Mary Robinson would become better known as a romantic poet and friend of Coleridge; a witty and perceptive novelist, and a politically radical columnist, writing under the pseudonym of Tabitha Bramble. She is the subject of several recent biographies. This PowerPoint lecture is illustrated with paintings, portraits and caricatures by artists of the day, including Hogarth, Rowlandson Romney, Gainsborough, Reynolds.