Edinburgh auction house to sell painting of Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift

A painting thought to be the earliest likeness of Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift is to be sold in an online auction.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Swift is believed to be only sixteen years old and a student at Dublin College in the painting, which is estimated to fetch between £30,000 and £50,000.

The painting, which is attributed to the Irish artist Thomas Pooley (1646-1723), will be sold live online from Edinburgh by fine art auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull on Wednesday May 18.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There are few images of the celebrated Anglo-Irish author (1667-1745), whose works include An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1708) and A Modest Proposal (1729).

Thought to have been painted around 1682, it is coming to auction for the first time in 200 years.

Read More
Ian Rankin makes generous donation of rare books to Edinburgh's Christian Aid bo...

Nick Curnow, head of fine art at Lyon & Turnbull, said: "This is a remarkable painting of a literary giant of whom few likenesses exist.

"Swift is a very self-assured sitter for a young man and the work has a presence and immediacy that so many 18th-century portraits lack."

Dominic Somerville-Brown in front of a rare portrait of Jonathan Swift. The painting thought to be the earliest likeness of Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift is to be sold in an online auction. (Photo credit: Stewart Attwood/Lyon & Turnbull/PA Wire)Dominic Somerville-Brown in front of a rare portrait of Jonathan Swift. The painting thought to be the earliest likeness of Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift is to be sold in an online auction. (Photo credit: Stewart Attwood/Lyon & Turnbull/PA Wire)
Dominic Somerville-Brown in front of a rare portrait of Jonathan Swift. The painting thought to be the earliest likeness of Gulliver's Travels author Jonathan Swift is to be sold in an online auction. (Photo credit: Stewart Attwood/Lyon & Turnbull/PA Wire)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The work was acquired by Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore, County Down, in 1801, who recorded it as "a small portrait of Dean Swift".

First exhibited at South Kensington in 1867, it then drifted in and out of public view for the next hundred years.

In 1898 Sir Leslie Stephen, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, declared "the present whereabouts of this portrait is unknown".

It reappeared around 1967 in the collection of a descendant of Thomas Percy and at this time it came to the attention of Swift scholars and was attributed to Pooley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The artist painted many high society figures in Ireland during the second half of the seventeenth century and at the start of eighteenth century, contributing to the theory that Swift was the illegitimate son of his benefactor, Sir John Temple (1600-1677).

Dominic Somerville-Brown, rare books specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said: "Swift has an enduring hold on readers' imaginations and an indisputable place in the literary canon.

"However, his legacy is not matched by a profusion of images, especially given the era in which he lived.

"This portrait being auctioned is therefore very exciting and I will be on tenterhooks when bidding begins."

Related topics: