Benjamin Jonson

Benjamin Jonson

by Abraham van Blyenberch
oil on canvas, circa 1617
18 1/2 in. x 16 1/2 in. (470 mm x 419 mm)
Purchased, 1935
Primary Collection
NPG 2752

Sitter

Benjamin Jonson (1573?-1637), Poet and dramatist. Sitter associated with 18 portraits.

Artist

Abraham van Blyenberch (1575/6-1624). Artist associated with 16 portraits.

This Portrait

The Flemish art Abraham van Blyenberch visited England between 1617 and 1621 and painted a small group of portraits of individuals closely associated with the court. All other surviving portraits of Jonson derive from this one.

Related Works

NPG 363: Benjamin Jonson (probably after)

Linked Publications

Sound Guide
Cooper, John, A Guide to the National Portrait Gallery, 2009, p. 18
Cooper, Tarnya, Searching for Shakespeare (hardback), 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 29 May 2006), p. 180
Cooper, Tarnya, Searching for Shakespeare, 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 29 May 2006), p. 180
Motion, Andrew, Interrupted Lives in Literature, 2004, p. 13
Nicholl, Charles, Character Sketches: Elizabethan Writers, 1997, p. 21
Nicholl, Charles, Insights: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, 2005, p. 42
Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 68
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 343
Strong, Roy, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, 1969, p. 183