Bibliography Oxford DNB

Engraver, antiquary, art critic etc.. His parents were Catholics in the service of James II. Vertue was apprenticed to the engraver Michael Vandergucht for seven years from 1702, subsequently setting up independently. His reproductive work for Kneller, and in particular his portrait of George I, established his reputation. In 1717 he was appointed engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. Apart from an œuvre of more than 500 prints, he left extensive collections of books, drawings and prints dispersed by auction after his death, 16– 22.III.1757, and some forty volumes of notes on the history of art acquired and published (1762– 71) by Horace Walpole as Anecdotes of painting in England. Only one pastel is known, signed on the reverse, and engraved by him for his series of portraits of English poets. According to one of the engraving, the original was a portrait belonging to John, Lord Somers; there are various versions of this image, thought by Vertue to be by Honthorst but now reattributed to Abraham van Blyenberch (c.1575–1624)