John Wilkes Esq Mezzotint Engraving By John Kitchingman After Robert Edge Pine Circa.1768

John Kitchingman after Robert Edge Pine. British School Late 18th.Century. John Wilkes Esqr. Member of Parliament for the County of Middlesex. Friend to Liberty, a Lover of his King, opposer of Ministerial Tyranny & Defender of his Country. Mezzotint engraving Circa.1768 Published by Robert Sayer. 25 by 35 cms. Trimmed on or just about platemark. Traces of old creases, slight rubbing, slight loss top left corner. Presented in a late 18th.Century Ebonised fruitwood frame. 31 by 41cms overall A very rare half length portrait of the famously ugly, radical John Wilkes 1727-1797. He sits at his desk, wearing a braided coat and waistcoat, holding a quill pen in his right hand, and staring with his slightly crossed eyes to the left. On his desk are numerous pamphlets, a medallion of John Hampden and a book inscribed 'Sydney on Government.' Wilkes had been arrested following his attack on the King's Speech on April 19th. 1763. Wilkes editor of the radical newspaper the 'North Briton' was commited to the Tower, but eventually, to the joy of the London Mob, released by Lord Camden on May 6th.