Lewis Walpole Library Is Hosting ‘Portraits of Painters’ Exhibition

Portraits of English painters that once formed part of a collection of prints and drawings in the library of Horace Walpole will be featured in an exhibition at the Lewis Walpole Library.

Titled “Portraits of Painters: Drawings by George Vertue and Horace Walpole’s ‘Anecdotes of Painting in England,’” the exhibition will be on view through Feb. 6. It features 34 portrait drawings by George Vertue (1684-1756).

In addition to the drawings, Walpole acquired Vertue’s manuscripts, or “notebooks,” which were a major resource for Walpole’s own history of art, “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” published between 1762 and 1771.

Both Vertue’s notebooks and Walpole’s “Anecdotes of Painting in England” remain important resources for the study of the arts in Britain. The Vertue portraits were purchased by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis in 1949.

The exhibition is available to view on appointment by calling (860) 677-2140. The Lewis Walpole Library, located at 154 Main St. in Farmington, Connecticut, is a research library for 18th-century studies and the prime source for the study of Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. Its collections include significant holdings of 18th-century British books, manuscripts, prints, drawings and paintings, as well as examples of the decorative arts. It is housed in a historic frame house that was given to Yale by Lewis and Annie Burr Lewis and is a department of the Yale University Library.

For more information, visit the website at www.library.yale.edu/walpole.