Alexander Pope

Sitterback to top

• Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Poet. Sitter associated with 44 portraits.

Artistback to top

• William Hoare (1707-1792), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 73 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The power of portraits to promote celebrity led many sitters to try to control their image. The poet Alexander Pope suffered from curvature of the spine, probably caused by Pott's disease. Hoare's son told the diarist Joseph Farrington how 'when Pope sat to His Father for a Portrait, he showed anxiety to conceal the deformity of his person, & had a cloak thrown over his shoulders, & when Mr. Hoare was painting that part of the picture He came behind Him & said 'He need not be very particular about the Shoulders'.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 214
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 500
• Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 93

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• The Art of Drawing: Portraits from the Collection, 1670-1780 (19 October 2012 - 19 May 2013)

Subject/Themeback to top

• Hats and head-attire