ATTRIBUTED TO CHRISTIAN RICHTER (1678-1732)

Portrait miniature presumed to be Alexander Pope (1688-1744), renowned English poet, satirist, and translator, wearing a blue velvet cap and red jacket, worn open to reveal its pale blue lining; c.1710

Watercolour on ivory

Oval, 7 x 4.5 cm

This rare image of an adolescent Pope shows him with a plump face and healthy complexion. It is known that Pope had his portrait painted at the age of 10, two years prior to his diagnosis of Pott Disease (tuberculosis of the spine) which left him with a severe hunchback. This notable disfigurement impaired his adulthood, and his growth was stunted at 4 feet and 6 inches. However, no such abnormalities can be detected in this work and so it may well record Pope before the onset of this affliction.

Pope was a precocious child, incessantly reading poetry and learning Latin and Greek from the age of eight. He read Ogilby’s translation of Homer when he was about twelve, it was around this age that he first ventured into poetry, composing an epic poem called ‘Alexander’, which he later burnt around 1717. Pope first attracted public attention for his poems in 1709 with his ‘Pastorals’ aged nineteen.

Alexander Pope recast his physical marginality into a beacon of creativity where he is now commemorated as the eighteenth century's most eminent poet. His unbounded cultural contributions amongst contemporary intelligentsia saw him ascend as a celebrity satirist, credible translator and amateur landscapist.

£6,800