John Locke, Esqr.

Date1738

Engraver George Vertue

After work by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723)

OriginEngland, London

MediumLine engraving and etching on laid paper

DimensionsOther (Platemark): 9 × 14 1/8 in (22.86 × 35.88cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. R. B. Dunwoody

Object number1930-644

DescriptionText around portrait reads: "JOHN LOCKE Esq."
Text on plinth reads: "G. KNELLER Eques PINXIT 1697"
Loer margin reads: "In the Possession of the Revd Dr. William Geekie/ G. Vertue Sculp. 1738."Label TextThis is one of the portraits for the Kit Kat Club and was then included in volumes of Thomas Birch's "The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, Engraved by Mr Houbraken and by Mr Vertue" (London, 1743-1752). The book included portraits of royalty, famous people, and scholars. It was sold in the British North American colonies. John Locke (1632-1704) was an English physician and philosopher and one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, most prominently writing "Two Treatises of Government." His writing influenced Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many of the American Revolutionary leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson.

Currently, a reproduction of this print of Locke, as well as seven other Heads of Illustrious Persons, are hanging in the Bull Head Room in Wetherburn's Tavern.ProvenanceBefore 1930, R. B. Dunwoody (Surrey, England); 1930-present, given to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).