How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

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'. It is likely that Pope sat to Hoare in his newly-established studio in Bath during a visit in 1739.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Alexander Pope

Date

c.1739

Medium

pastel on paper

Measurements

H 60.2 x W 44.9 cm

Accession number

299

Acquisition method

bequeathed by Charles Townsend, 1870

Work type

Drawing

National Portrait Gallery, London

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

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

View venue

Artist or maker

William Hoare

1707–1792

View profile

Head of a Girl Wearing a White Hat Victoria and Albert Museum
Philip Yorke (1690–1764), Earl of Hardwicke English Heritage, Wrest Park
Philip Champion de Crespigny (1704–1765) Kelmarsh Hall
George Grenville (1712–1770) Christ Church, University of Oxford
The Pitt Family of Encombe The Holburne Museum
James (1703–1743), 5th Duke of Hamilton and 2nd Duke of Brandon National Trust for Scotland, Brodick Castle, Garden & Country Park
John Carteret (1690–1763), 2nd Earl Granville Parliamentary Art Collection
115 more