Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist and politician. Addison was born in Wiltshire and educated at Charterhouse School and Queen's College, Ox
Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist and politician. Addison was born in Wiltshire and educated at Charterhouse School and Queen's College, Oxford. He excelled in classics and published a translation of Virgil's Georgics in 1695. After a brief spell in Europe he found himself unemployed until 1704 when he was commissioned to compose a work celebrating the Battle of Blenheim entitled The Campaign. A career in politics followed, although he continued writing poetry and plays, the most notable of which was Cato, A Tragedy. Addison heklped found the Kitcat Club, at which he and his friend Richard Steele worked to start The Spectator magazine. This engraving by Jacobous Houbraken, based on a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, is from Birch's 'The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain' published in 1752.
Size: 4136px × 6687px
Photo credit: © MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1600s, 1700s, 17th, 18th, addison, author, british, century, club, english, engraving, essayist, houbraken, joseph, kitcat, kneller, magazine, monochrome, playwright, poet, politician, portrait, spectator, vertical
