Gallery shows Dryden in new light as Poet Laureate

EXPERTS who spotted an unknown portrait celebrating John Dryden as Poet Laureate have bought the work.

The National Portrait Gallery curators did further research after seeing the picture for sale two years ago and found there was no other known portrait of him in the role.

The painting celebrates Dryden's appointment to the newly-created post of Laureate in 1668. It has never been previously displayed or catalogued other than in the listings of house contents.

Neither had it been reproduced or mentioned in any publication on the poet famous for his satire and translations of classical texts.

The gallery has now bought the work for £225,000 with help from the Art Fund charity and patrons.

The picture, which was originally wrongly attributed, is by John Michael Wright, one of the leading British portrait painters of the 17th century.

It shows Dryden in his thirties with Latin inscriptions alluding to his classical scholarship.

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, thanked the donors and said: "This is a very fine portrait of Dryden, one which celebrates the man and also the Poet Laureateship itself."