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William Godwin

(1756-1836), Philosopher and novelist

Sitter in 13 portraits
Philosopher and novelist, Godwin was arguably the most famous English writer of the revolutionary period and the leading radical spokesman. In the Enquiry concerning Political Justice (1793) he detailed his optimistic belief that if human reason could be 'perfected' this would allow authoritarian laws and institutions to be overturned. Despite being ideologically opposed to marriage, he married the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft in 1797 when she was pregnant with their daughter, the future Mary Shelley. Godwin had a powerful influence on the Romantic poets, especially William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

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Thomas Holcroft; William Godwin

by Sir Thomas Lawrence
pencil with black and red chalk, 1794
NPG 6880

William Godwin

by James Northcote
oil on canvas, 1802
NPG 1236

William Godwin

by Henry William Pickersgill
oil on canvas, feigned oval, 1830
NPG 411

William Godwin

by William Brockedon
pencil and white and red chalk, 1832
NPG 2515(29)

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite'

by James Gillray, published by John Wright
etching, published 1 August 1798
NPG D13093

'New morality; - or - the promis'd installment of the high-priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the homage of Leviathan and his suite'

by James Gillray, published by John Wright
hand-coloured etching, published 1 August 1798
NPG D13094

William Godwin

by George Dawe, after James Northcote
mezzotint, (1802)
NPG D8387

William Godwin

by and published by George Dawe, after James Northcote
mezzotint, published 4 October 1802 (1802)
NPG D8414

William Godwin

by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood, after Sir Thomas Lawrence
stipple engraving, published 31 January 1805
NPG D15558

William Godwin

by Miss Roberts, after Thomas Kearsley
stipple engraving, published 1821
NPG D2789

William Godwin

by George Dawe, published by Francis Graves & Co, and published by James Macrone, after James Northcote
mezzotint, published 1 June 1836 (1802)
NPG D8415

William Godwin

by Daniel Maclise, published by James Fraser
lithograph, published 1873
NPG D15559

William Godwin

by George Dawe, after James Northcote
mezzotint, (1802)
NPG D20131

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Related People

Mary Jane Godwin (wife)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (daughter)
Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Bt (grandson)
Mary Wollstonecraft (wife)

Groups

Place

Cambridgeshire

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William Godwin