Portrait of Thomas Hobbes
Medium
watercolor on vellum in a gilt metal frame
Dimensions
framed: 7.3 × 6.3 cm · sight: 6.7 × 5.8 cm
Classification
Portrait Miniature
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Edward B. Greene Collection
Accession Number
1949.548
Tags
About this artwork
In his seventies when the portrait was painted, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) is turned slightly to his left, his eyes directed at the spectator. He has thin gray hair extending to his collar and a gray mustache and goatee. Only his head is finished; a thin gray wash loosely describes a plain, flat collar. Hobbes was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. In spite of humble parentage, he rose to prominence as a brilliant linguist and author of the 1651 book Leviathan, a seminal work of social contract theor...