Portraits

Our writers profile individuals, some of them overlooked, and explore how they shaped the world as we know it.

The squandered promise of Willie Wilde

Willie Wilde - Oscar Wilde's older brother - had been destined for a distinguished public life, but the siren song of dissolute journalism proved too tempting.

Matthew Sturgis September 22, 2020

Puritan iconoclasts on the road to Norwich burning a church crucifix in front of the church. A miserable phrygian capped preacher is showing a passage from the bible to a man in a posture of prayer while another man brings more wood for the fire. East Anglia was a centre of iconoclasm in the 17th century

portraits

William ‘Basher’ Dowsing — activist iconoclast

Pious puritan Dowsing was committed to destroying all aspects of 'popery' in English churches. His radicalism is a warning from history.

Johan Hakelius September 16, 2020

1934 (relief), Tate Modern, London - Wikipedia Creative Commons

portraits

Helen Sutherland – brave cultivator of the beautiful

An isolated, austere, and fastidious heiress - Helen Sutherland dedicated herself to art.

Laura Freeman September 9, 2020

The Fall of Robespierre in the Convention on 27 July 1794

portraits

Jean Denis, Comte Lanjuinais – fearless opponent of The Terror

In the tumult of revolutionary France, Comte Lanjuinais risked his life by defying the Jacobins.

Jenny McCartney September 2, 2020

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Amanda McKittrick Ros – romance unbounded

Admired in her day but now largely forgotten, Amanda McKittrick Ros, 'an Elizabethan born out of her time', according to Aldous Huxley, deserves revisiting.

Andrew Wilton July 17, 2020

portraits

Joseph Leclerc du Tremblay – the original éminence grise

Known under his religious name as Father Joseph, François du Tremblay was the mentor, ally and trusted agent of Cardinal de Richelieu, at a time when he dominated European politics..

Gerald Warner July 9, 2020