The Pourtraiture of John Bunyan' revisited: Robert White and Images of the Author

This article examines the work and career of the engraver Robert White in the late 1670s, most notably his involvement with Nathaniel Ponder, the publisher of The Pilgrim's Progress, and his famous engraving of John Bunyan as a sleeper on the title-page of the allegory. It argues that poor deri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBunyan studies Vol. 13; pp. 7 - 39
Main Author Dunan-Page, Anne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published The International John Bunyan Society 01.09.2008
Subjects
Art and art history
Humanities and Social Sciences
Literature
Religions
David Loggan
Miniatures
Thomas Faithorne
Restauration anglaise
Allegory
John Bunyan
Engraving
Restoration
John Owen
Robert White
Graphite
Allegorie
Gravures
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Summary:This article examines the work and career of the engraver Robert White in the late 1670s, most notably his involvement with Nathaniel Ponder, the publisher of The Pilgrim's Progress, and his famous engraving of John Bunyan as a sleeper on the title-page of the allegory. It argues that poor derivatives of White's frontispiece have prevented us from seeing it for what it was: the work of a fashionable society engraver and miniaturist whose attention to Bunyan, on Ponder's behalf, was a striking oddity that deserves a closer look. A consideration of Robert White's oeuvre and working practices will illustrate the need to reassess the nature and use of the Bunyan graphite that was allegedly used as a model for the sleeping portrait. The article proposes fresh ways to approach the early illustrations of Bunyan's allegories--from the sleeping portrait to the oval frontispieces engraved by White, by his pupil John Sturt, by Thomas Burnford and Fredrick van Hove. In doing so, it will suggest ways in which early representations of Bunyan may have shaped his reception and reputation in the seventeenth century
ISSN:0954-0970