Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, copy of poem 'The Beauties: an Epistle to Mr Eckardt the Painter'

Manuscript copy of Horace Walpole's poem 'The Beauties: an Epistle to Mr Eckardt the Painter', published in 1746, addressed to the painter John Giles Eccardt, includes notes in the margins identifying the beauties mentioned in the poem. It is unknown who copied the poem.

Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, (1717-1797) was a author, politician and patron of the arts and had built the Gothic style house Strawberry Hill in Twickenham. John Giles Eccardt (1711-1779) was a portrait painter who specialised in small scale portraits, Horace Walpole was his most important patron and between c. 1746-1754 Eccardt painted 26 portraits for him. Eccardt also painted Walpole on several occassions, one of which hung in Walpole's bedroom at Strawberry Hill and is now in the National Portrait Gallery's collection (NPG 988). Walpole composed 'The Beauties: an Epistle to Mr Eckardt the Painter' for Lady Caroline Fox and it was published without his consent in September 1746.

Available to view by appointment in the Heinz Archive and Library Public Study Room, to make an appointment contact Archive Reception . Although records are generally available for public consultation, some information in them, such as personal data or information supplied to the Gallery in confidence, may be restricted.

Personal photography is permitted for research purposes only. Photocopying is not permitted.