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One of the most important playwrights in Jacobean London, Fletcher is particularly known for his extremely successful collaborations with Francis Beaumont (1584–1616), including Philaster (c.1609), The Maid's Tragedy (c.1610) and A King and no King (1611). Fletcher also wrote several plays himself, and collaborated on works with other playwrights, including Shakespeare in Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen (both 1613).
This is the only known portrait of Fletcher from life. The verse written on the paper beside him pays a compliment to his wit and expresses conventional sentiments about the inability of painting, as opposed to poetry, to convey the mind of the sitter.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

John Fletcher

Date

c.1620

Medium

oil on oak panel

Measurements

H 91.8 x W 71 cm

Accession number

6829

Acquisition method

Purchased with help from the Portrait Fund, the Art Fund, L. L. Brownrigg, Sir Harry Djanogly, Laurence Chase, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Fletcher tearooms at Rye, E. A. Whitehead, the Dame Helen Gardner Bequest, Mrs A. Campbell, the Pidem Fund, proceeds of the 150th anniversary portrait gala, and numerous supporters of a public appeal, 2008

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

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

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Artist or maker

unknown artist

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