John Milton
(1608-1674), PoetSitter associated with 72 portraits
Milton is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and a master of political pamphleteering. Forceful and idealistic, he served the Commonwealth as Latin Secretary but was arrested upon the restoration of Charles II. The tragic circumstances of his life – a difficult first marriage, the death of two wives, and his eventual blindness in 1652 – are reflected in the occasional melancholy of his work. Milton is best known for Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), an epic poem of Heaven, Hell, God, Satan, and angels: ‘Of things invisible to mortal sight’. Intense cultural interest in the nature of blindness meant that artists and writers continued to be fascinated by his experience of blindness in the Romantic and Victorian periods.
after a bust attributed to Edward Pearce
plaster cast of bust, based on a work of 1660
NPG 2102
by Horace Montford, after a bust attributed to Edward Pearce
plaster cast of bust, circa 1860-1919, based on a work of circa 1660
NPG 1396
by William Faithorne
line engraving, 1670
NPG 610
by Unknown artist
marble bust, after 1674
On display at National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
NPG 3781
after Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen)
colour halftone, (1618)
NPG D38831
by William Camden Edwards, after Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen)
line engraving, (circa 1629)
NPG D38834
by William Marshall
line engraving, published 1645
NPG D5262
by George Vertue, after Jonathan Richardson, after a bust attributed to Edward Pearce
line engraving and etching, (circa 1660)
NPG D38836
by William Faithorne
line engraving, 1670
NPG D22856
by William Faithorne
line engraving, 1670
NPG D22857
after William Faithorne
line engraving, (1670)
NPG D22861
by Walter Dolle
line engraving, published 1672
NPG D30105
by Robert White
line engraving, published 1695
NPG D30107
by William Faithorne
line engraving, published 1698
NPG D22860
possibly by George Vertue
line engraving, early 18th century
NPG D30103
by David Coster
line engraving, early 18th century
NPG D30104
by Unknown artist
wax seal impression, 18th century?
NPG D42248
by C. Widder, after Peter Vandyke
line engraving, 18th century
NPG D16769
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Tom Cook
25 August 2019, 12:22
The current bio is quite good, but maybe needs a touch of revision, as well as its punctuation correcting. Milton’s first marriage seems not to have been wholly unhappy; his first and second wives both died before him; his work is not generally despairing (though his version of Satan is), with Paradise Lost in particular being a grand reconciliation to humanity’s shortcomings; and finally, though Paradise Regained is an epic, it’s not nearly as well known as Paradise Lost, while Samson Agonistes isn’t an epic at all, but rather a verse drama. Feel free to use the following version if you think it reads nicely:
Milton is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and a master of political pamphleteering. Forceful and idealistic, he served the Commonwealth as Latin Secretary but was arrested upon the restoration of Charles II. The tragic circumstances of his life – a difficult first marriage, the death of two wives, and his eventual blindness in 1652 – are reflected in the occasional melancholy of his work. Milton is best known for Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), an epic poem of Heaven, Hell, God, Satan, and angels: ‘Of things invisible to mortal sight’. Intense cultural interest in the nature of blindness meant that artists and writers continued to be fascinated by his experience of blindness in the Romantic and Victorian periods.