Alexander Pope

Over the years this work has come to be known as a portrait of the poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) by Richardson, one of the leading portrait painters of the day. Both attributions are questionable. The identity of the sitter is difficult to determine. Although Richardson produced numerous portraits of his friend Pope, all adhere to the pattern established by artists two decades earlier. The majority are half-length, and when depicted in full Pope is usually shown seated, legs crossed, hand resting on brow. These poses discreetly disguise Pope's physical condition. The poet suffered from Pott's disease, a form of bone tuberculosis which severely affected his health from puberty. Sir Joshua Reynolds unkindly described Pope as "about four feed six high, very humpbacked and deformed". Therefore, a standing full-length portrait would be extremely unusual, but not entirely impossible. Only one survives, a sketch by William Hoare said to be "the only portrait that was ever drawn of Mr Pope at full length". The inscription on the work continues: "Pope would never have forgiven the Painter had he known it - he was too sensible of the deformity of his person to allow the whole of it to be represented"

. Sketch of Alexander Pope. Artist: William Hoare.

In our portrait the face shares many similarities with sketches of Pope made by Richardson during the 1730s, in particular Pope's distinctive brow and nose. The legs are also extremely thin, as Pope's were. If the subject id indeed Pope, this idealised portrait could be considered as a counterpart to the 1717 portrait Richardson painted of Lord Burlington standing before his "First Essay" in architecture, the Bagnio completed that year at Chiswick House. In this context Pope may here be celebrated for his innovative eye for garden design, the second string on his lyre after poetry.

Alexander Pope portrait.

The iconography of the above work obeys the conventions of the time. The poet, in "melancholy" pose, is shown awaiting divine inspiration from the poetic Muse. This was how Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was portrayed at the height of his career by artists such as Charles Jervas, Richardson and Van Loo. The famous portrait by Jean-Baptiste Van Loo (1684-1745) acted as the prototype for a number of works produced during the second half of the 18th century, and was widely known to the public in engraved versions by Faber and Houbraken.

Portrait of Alexander Pope. Artist: Jacobus Houbraken. Engraving. 1747.

Houbraken's engraving above, issued in 1747, was based on an intermediary oil sketch by Arthur Pond (c.1705-38) which was sent to Amsterdam to be engraved.