PORTRAIT OF MILTON
Presumed Copy Is Original
Of especial importance and interest, in a year of interesting acquisitions by the National Portrait Gallery, is the painting bought as an eighteenth-century copy of the lost "Onslow” portrait of John Milton but now presumed, after cleaning, and investigation, to be the “Onslow” portrait itself. It correspondents to Aubrey's description, c. 1681 of the picture which the poet’s widow had “drawne very well & when a Cambridge schollar,” at which time Milton was “so faire they called him the Lady of Christ’s colt”
After the death of Milton’s widow it was bought by Speaker Arthur Onslow (1691-1768) and remained with his family until 1827, when it was sold and trace of it was lost.
Research is still in progress as to the history of the present portrait but documentary evidence, describing the picture and its inscriptions, and technical examination, provide, a strong likelihood that this is the original.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19620109.2.11
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CI, Issue 29716, 9 January 1962, Page 3
Word Count
154PORTRAIT OF MILTON Press, Volume CI, Issue 29716, 9 January 1962, Page 3
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