Alexander Pope

by an unknown artist, after Sir Godfrey Kneller
1735

Collection: Oxford University

This image appeared as the frontispiece to Edmund Curll's publication of Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence for Thirty Years; from 1704 to 1734. Being, a Collection of Letters, Which Passed Between Him and Several Eminent Persons. Volume the First (1735). The image is based upon Kneller's painting of the poet in thoughtful repose, the large brow indicating his poetic genius. Here, the brow is lower, covered by a larger and higher turban. Pope's mouth is turned up so that he appears, rather than pensive or thoughtful, to be smirking. On the publication of this work, see Edmund Curll, Bookseller by Roger Baines and Pat Rogers (Oxford University Press, 2007), 246–52.

—by Allison Muri, February 2014