AS RIGHTEOUS AS A MAN WHO PAYS HIS BILLS

STEELE (Sir RICHARD, 1672-1729, essayist and dramatist) GOOD MEZZOTINT PORTRAIT OF STEELE AFTER JONATHAN RICHARDSON, half-length, three quarters facing right, within an oval, lettered 'Mr Richard Steele / J. Richardson pinx. 1712 J. Smith fec. Sold by J. Smith at the Lyon & Crown in Russell Street Covent Garden', dark impression, mounted to view, one light crease at corner, framed and glazed, size of aperture c. 14¼ x 11 inches, overall size c. 21½ x 17¼ inches, 1712

William Connely, Steele's biographer, write unflatteringly about Richardson's portrait from which this mezzotint derives: 'Richardson made Steele look like a cherub detached from the blue. But Steele's dress was his own: his rich black coat cut long, his white straight scarf cut to match, his glossy periwig which tumbled to his elbow at one end and reared twin peaks above his forehead at the other - these things, calculated to offset his bun of a face, betrayed no aversion to elegance. In one blemish the painter drew to the life: Steele was born to be black-bearded as a Spanish sailor; however close the barber shaved him, his chin new-reaped showed blue; Richardson allowed that. And Steele's eyebrows, not thick, but shapely and ebon, gave a hint of the character his beard might take if fashion permitted one. Otherwise there was not much masculinity in the face as painted, nor truth, nor undercurrent, nor any tale of what its possessor had lived for except food. Steele took one look at Richardson's refined version of himself, and said "indolent." He thought it soft, comely, and acquiescent, felt sure the ladies would like it, and they did. Dick Steele appeared as righteous as a man who pays his bills.'

For John Smith see the portrait of Charles I under 'History'.

£450