Portrait of Thomas Paine at his writing desk

What it is

This is an engraved portrait of Thomas Paine, printed in the Netherlands in 1792. It shows a man with curly hair in a dark coat with lace cuffs. He rests his chin on his hand and sits at a desk beside an inkwell and a quill pen. Lettering below reads 'T. PAINE.' The Dutch title describes him as the American philosopher Thomas Paine at his writing desk. The print is held by the Rijksmuseum, in the Netherlands.

Why it matters

The portrait was made in 1792, while Paine's Rights of Man was being published and argued over in Britain and beyond. Showing him at a desk presents him as a writer and thinker, the author of the argument rather than a soldier or statesman. Prints like this spread the faces of public figures to people who never met them, so readers could connect a name with a face. The artist is not named in the record.

Look closer

• What does the desk, the inkwell and the quill tell you about how the artist wanted Paine to be seen?
• Why might a printmaker in 1792 choose a pose of thought rather than a political scene?
• What does the portrait leave out, and who might have been unhappy with it?