Giuseppe Baretti
(1719-1789), Writer and friend of Dr JohnsonMid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter associated with 5 portraits
Baretti left his home town of Turin at the age of sixteen. He lived in a number of Italian cities, supporting himself through his writing. He moved to London in 1751, where he obtained work as an Italian teacher. The writer Mrs Charlotte Lennox offered him English lessons in return for tuition in Italian, and introduced him to her circle of artists and literary friends, including Henry Fielding, Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick and Samuel Johnson. Baretti became a promoter of Italian language and literature, and worked to make contemporary Italian culture accessible to the English.
after Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, early 1770s
NPG 6248
Unknown man, formerly known as Giuseppe Baretti
by Unknown artist
chalk, circa 1775
NPG 3024
by John Watts, published by John Boydell, after Sir Joshua Reynolds
mezzotint, published 18 July 1780 (1773)
NPG D23501
by James Hardy, published by William Richardson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds
stipple engraving, published 6 March 1794 (1773)
NPG D13953
by James Hardy, published by William Richardson, after Sir Joshua Reynolds
stipple engraving, published 6 March 1794 (1773)
NPG D19453
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