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Description: | Engraving. The original portrait on which this engraving is based is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. It was painted in 1711, the last year in the life of the sitter, lawyer and politician John Somers. At that time, Somers’ health was rapidly declining. He is depicted holding a first edition of poet Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, published in 1715 and dedicated to him. This is the Kit-Cat Club portrait of Somers; one of a series of portraits of members of the Kit-Cat Club commissioned from portraitist Godfrey Kneller. The portraits hung together at the Club’s meeting place at Barn Elms; a Georgian manor house in Barnes, London. Other portraits of Somer, painted by Kneller, are that of c.1690 at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire (constructed by the first Earl Somers, a descendant of the sitter) and another of c.1700-10 at Knole House in Kent. | Subjects: | Solicitor General Lord Chancellor wig President of the Royal Society Baron Somers male portrait Lord President of the Council Attorney General Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 18th century costume Baron book coat of arms John Somers coat | Temporal: | 1711 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | George Vertue (Engraver) | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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