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Secondary sourcePainting2011

Portraits of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

John Michael Wright · 2011

A later composite image placing a portrait of Hobbes (after Wright or Kneller) alongside portraits of Locke and Rousseau.

The left portrait in this composite image depicts Hobbes, based on earlier paintings by Wright or Kneller.

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Three side-by-side portrait paintings: left, an elderly man with white hair and a white collar; center, an oval portrait of an elderly man with long white hair and a dark coat; right, a man in a fur hat and fur-trimmed cloak against a dark background.
Composite of portraits of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, assembled 2011.

About this source

What it is

This is a composite image combining three separate portraits of philosophers: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Hobbes portrait is based on paintings by John Michael Wright or Godfrey Kneller. The image was assembled later, in 2011, from existing artworks.

Why it matters

Grouping these three thinkers together reflects how later generations have connected them as key figures in the history of political philosophy, even though they lived in different centuries and never met. It shows how Hobbes is remembered alongside later thinkers who responded to his ideas.

Look closer

  • Why might someone choose to display these three portraits together?
  • What differences in clothing and setting can you see between the three figures?
  • Does grouping portraits like this help or distort our understanding of each individual thinker?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Thomas Hobbes on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Engraved title page of Hobbes's Leviathan: a giant crowned figure made of many tiny people holds a sword and crozier over a landscape of hills and a city. Below, a central banner bears the title and author's name, flanked by vignettes of castle, church, crown, mitre, cannon, weapons, battle, and a council.Book

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Leviathan

Thomas Hobbes · 1651

Engraved frontispiece of the 1642 Paris edition of Hobbes's De Cive. Top panel shows a crowded scene of figures in clouds and a fiery landscape with a winged angel and a group of people. Bottom panel has a central banner titled Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Tertia De Cive with Latin text, flanked by a crowned female figure holding scales labeled Imperium and a figure with a bow and spear labeled Libertas, with a landscape and the word Religio across the middle.Book

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De Cive

Thomas Hobbes · 1642

Line engraving portrait of Thomas Hobbes, a man with long wavy hair, a large white collar, and dark robes, shown in an oval frame inscribed with his name in Latin. Below is a Latin inscription and the printer's line 'London, Printed for Will. Crooke'.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Thomas Hobbes, Line Engraving

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Primary source

The Elements of Law

Thomas Hobbes · 1640

Engraved title page reading 'The Workes of Homer Engl: by T: Hobbes', with a bust of Homer above, two armoured warriors with spears flanking the title, and an oval portrait of Hobbes below. Imprint reads London, printed for W. Crooke, 1677.Artifact

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Title Page of The Workes of Homer, Translated by Thomas Hobbes

1677

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