Portrait of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II’s Restoration court. He helped establish English satiric poetry.

The composition of this portrait, almost certainly of Rochester’s own devising, reflects a typical conceit found in his writing. A light-hearted quip suggestive of the self-depreciation of the man himself, it also carries a deeper message, serving to highlight the perfidy and vanity of man. It portrays Rochester, manuscript in hand and resplendent in silk, bestowing the poet’s laurels on a jabbering monkey which tears the pages from a book and hands them back, crumpled, to the poet. Monkeys feature prominently in Rochester’s writing, along with other animal metaphors, serving to point up the folly and presumption of man.

This spectacular portrait was part of the collection of portraits formed by the 2nd Earl of Warwick, at Warwick Castle in the late eighteenth century. For many years, it has been on loan in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, since the late 1970s.