John Milton (1608-1674)

"John Milton" (1608-1674)
Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780)
after the Onslow portrait by an unknown artist
Line engraving, published by John & Paul Knapton, 1741
On paper
Size:  43.5 cm x 29.3 cm (sheet)
          49.3 cm x 35 cm (frame)

Sitter within a feigned architectural oval with his name above, a scroll below, along with a lyre, a branch of fruit and the serpent from Milton's epic "Paradise Lost". Lettered in lower margin: "J. Houbraken sculps. Amst. 1741 / In the collection of the Right Hon: Arthur Onslow Esqr. Speaker of the House of Commons / Impensis I. & P. Knapton Londini. 1741".

John Milton, along with William Shakespeare, is one of the most celebrated authors in the English language.

The print is currently presented in an elegantly distressed, antique Hogarth frame.