Skip to main content

Primary sourcePainting1665

Thomas Hobbes, Etching by Wenceslaus Hollar

Wenceslaus Hollar · 1665

An etched portrait of Thomas Hobbes made during his lifetime, after a work by Jan Baptist Jaspers.

This etching, made during Hobbes's lifetime, helped spread his likeness across Europe as his fame grew.

Ask Thomas Hobbes about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Engraved portrait print of an elderly man with shoulder-length wavy hair, a high forehead, a mustache and a small beard, wearing a dark robe and a white falling lace collar. Latin inscription above and a caption below reading Thomas Hobbes Malmesburiensis, dated 1679.
Wenceslaus Hollar, after Jan Baptist Jaspers, Thomas Hobbes, etching, 1665.

About this source

What it is

This is an etched portrait of Thomas Hobbes, made by the engraver Wenceslaus Hollar in 1665, based on an image by Jan Baptist Jaspers. It shows Hobbes as an elderly man with wavy hair, a high forehead, and a lace collar, with a Latin caption naming him 'Thomas Hobbes Malmesburiensis'.

Why it matters

Portrait prints like this one were an important way for images of famous or controversial thinkers to circulate widely in the 1600s. Hollar's etching helped spread Hobbes's face across Europe at a time when his philosophy, especially his book Leviathan, was making him both famous and notorious.

Look closer

  • What does the clothing and posture suggest about how Hobbes wanted to be seen?
  • Why might an engraved print, rather than a painting, have been chosen to spread someone's image?
  • What does the Latin inscription tell us about who the intended audience was?

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.

More Thomas Hobbes sources

Meet the AI Thomas Hobbes →
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

Primary source

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

Primary source

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

Book

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

Secondary source

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

1677

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Thomas Hobbes now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions