Fame And Friendship

No contemporary figure in 18th-century Britain was more widely depicted than the poet Alexander Pope. According to Voltaire, the image of the Prime Minister was to be seen only above his own chimney piece, while portraits of Pope were to be found in twenty noblemen’s houses. The leading literary figure of the age, Pope took great pains over how he was represented and carefully fashioned his public persona through images, published letters and the printed editions of his works.

In the Red Ante Room, some of the most celebrated painted portraits of Pope are shown alongside a selection of the printed texts which he planned with meticulous care. But the core of the exhibition in the White Drawing Room consists of eight different versions of the same portrait bust by the leading sculptor of the period, Louis François Roubiliac. Recognized as the most compelling and intense image of a sitter who endured much physical pain, Roubiliac’s bust is among the greatest portrait sculptures of the 18th century, a period in which the portrait bust had a new prominence.