John Milton. by Houbraken, Jacobus - 1739.

London:: J & P Knapton ,, 1739.. First printing. Fine. A charming portrait of youthful John Milton. Fine original copperplate engraving by masterful portrait engraver Jacobus Houbraken, (Dutch 1698 -1780). Folio (14 x 20 inches), plate mark 9.25 x 15 inches. Complete with original biographical text. Engraved from portrait "In the Collection of the Right Honorable Arthur Onslow Esq. Speaker of the House of Commons." This fine engraved portrait of poet John Milton, surrounded in vignette by elements of relative and historic importance; a lyre, a serpent, a book, was engraved by Houbraken for the series; The Heads of the Illustrious Persons of Great Britain. Collaborating with the historian Thomas Birch and artist George Vertue, Houbraken engraved the nearly all portraits for this seminal work on Britain's prominent men, and women. The engraved plates, with accompanying biographical text, were issued in parts by J. & P. Knapton between 1734 and 1752. Jacobus Houbraken was the leading portrait engraver in eighteenth-century Holland. The son of the painter and art writer Arnold Houbraken, he settled in Amsterdam in 1707, and during his lifetime engraved nearly 400 portraits after paintings by contemporary Dutch painters. (1812 Chalmer’s Biography / H / Jacob Houbraken (1698–1780) [vol. 18, p. 215]) Archivally matted and framed.