Joseph Addison -- Sir Godfrey Kneller --
oil on canvas, circa 1712
National Portrait Gallery, London.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
I used a random number generator to select this portrait. I was mostly* pleasantly surprised by the result, not only because I have an institutional connection with Addison, but also on account of my seeing the portrait strengthening my resolve to read more of Addison and Steele's essays.
* I write "mostly" because I am no lover of the Whig politics in which Addison was steeped.
The painting is one of the set of 43 Kit-cat Club portraits.
>>These portraits are of a group of influential men pledged to uphold the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 and the Protestant succession. Founded by Somers, the Lord Chancellor and the publisher Tonson, the club began meeting in Christopher Cat's tavern near Temple Bar, and took its name from his mutton pies known as Kit-cats. Members included Whig MPs and landowners as well as writers.<<
National Portrait Gallery