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John Dryden

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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A poet, dramatist and literary critic, Dryden was appointed Poet Laureate by Charles II in 1668. He wrote over twenty plays, including All for Love (1678), and numerous poems, particularly political satires, such as 'Absalom and Achitophel' (1681), and odes, including the famous 'Ode for St Cecilia's Day'. In 1686 he converted to Roman Catholicism, and at the Revolution of 1688 he was deprived of the laureateship. He devoted the rest of his life largely to translations, notably a verse translation of the works of Virgil. Maubert's modest portrait may have been painted for the bookseller Jacob Tonson, founder of the Kit-cat Club, who published Dryden's works. The painting symbolises the poet's classical influences and inspiration, notably in the pile of books on the table – labelled Montaigne, Horace, Virgil, Homer – and the distant view of Parnassus and Helicon home to the mythological Muses.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

John Dryden

Date

after 1700

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 57.2 x W 50.2 cm

Accession number

1133

Acquisition method

Purchased, 1898. On long-term loan to Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire

Work type

Painting

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National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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