Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue
William Wycherley (1640-1716), Dramatist
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Playwright; studied in France c.1656-59; Inner Temple 1659; a commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford, 1660; companion to Sir Richard Fanshawe in Madrid 1664-65; an eminent comic wit, his masterpieces, The Country Wife, played in 1675 and The Plain-Dealer (his last play) in 1676; lawsuits following the death of his first wife, the Countess of Drogheda, in 1685, led to imprisonment for debt; his Miscellany Poems 1704, a large folio, was not well received; in his old age a friend of the young Alexander Pope.
‘one of the politest Gentlemen in England, and the most civil and affable to Strangers, especially to [the French] for whom he has an Esteem; he is a little shy and reserv’d in Conversation, but when a Man can be so happy as once to engage him in Discourse, he cannot but admire his profound Sense, Masculine Wit, vast Knowledge of Mankind, and noble but easie Expressions’ (Abel Boyer, c.1782).
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
‘one of the politest Gentlemen in England, and the most civil and affable to Strangers, especially to [the French] for whom he has an Esteem; he is a little shy and reserv’d in Conversation, but when a Man can be so happy as once to engage him in Discourse, he cannot but admire his profound Sense, Masculine Wit, vast Knowledge of Mankind, and noble but easie Expressions’ (Abel Boyer, c.1782).
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.