Barton Booth
- Artist: John Vanderbank
- Date: circa 1730-1760
- Medium: engraving
- Dimensions: Long Term Loan
- Portrays: Barton Booth
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
Before you is an engraving of Barton Booth, made about 1730–1760 after a painting by portrait painter John Vanderbank. The print shows the actor’s face and shoulders, rendered in fine line work that gives him subtle shading and depth. Notice the carefully drawn brow and the slightly arched mouth—features that make his likeness clear even without colour. This engraving reproduces one of several portraits of Booth taken during his acting career between 1681 and 1733. The mid‑seventeenth‑century technique shows how prints were used to share a painter’s image with a wider audience.
See it in person
Barton Booth is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
