John Vanderbank (1694 - 1739)

John Vanderbank

John Vanderbank was a British portrait painter and book illustrator.

Vanderbank was one of England's most famous portrait painters of the 1720s and 1730s, and is the author of portraits of many prominent figures in Britain, including the royal family. His portrait of Isaac Newton (1725) is now in Trinity College, Cambridge. Vanderbank was also a gifted draftsman, notably illustrating the 4-volume edition of Don Quixote.

Vanderbank was a very influential and successful artist of his time, with contemporaries prophesying a great destiny for him. However, his unrestrained lifestyle led to constant financial difficulties and an early death at the age of only 45.