Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as Joseph Addison (1672-1719), half-length, in a brown jacket, pointing with his right hand at a shelf of books

細節

Follower of Sir Godfrey Kneller
Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as Joseph Addison (1672-1719), half-length, in a brown jacket, pointing with his right hand at a shelf of books
inscribed 'Joseph Addison,/obt:1719.' (upper left)
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

注意事項

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium. This lot is subject to storage and collection charges. **For Furniture and Decorative Objects, storage charges commence 7 days from sale. Please contact department for further details.**

拍品專文

Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist, poet, and statesman, was educated at Charterhouse and Oxford. He first achieved prominence with The Campaign (1704), an epic celebrating the victory of Marlborough at Blenheim. The poem was commissioned by Lord Halifax, and its great success was instrumental in Addison's appointment in 1705 as Undersecretary of State and in 1709 as Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

However, it was as an essayist that Addison's most enduring fame was achieved, with contributions to periodicals including Tatler, The Spectator and The Guardian. It has been said that his writing raised the English essay to a degree of technical perfection never before achieved and never since surpassed.