John Foxe

Object Type
This print is an engraving, made by cutting lines into the surface of a flat piece of metal, inking the plate and then transferring the ink held in the lines onto a sheet of paper.

People
The subject of the portrait is the author and martyrologist John Foxe. He is most famous for his publication of Actes and Monuments of these latter and perilous times touching matters of the Church, first printed in Latin in 1559, which became known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs. In it Foxe presented a history of the Church, focusing on the Church in England and giving an account of the martyrs to the Protestant cause. His aim in writing this book was to prove that Protestantism was the true faith.

Subject Depicted
This likeness of John Foxe was probably copied from his portrait in Herologia Anglica, a collection of portraits and biographies of notable personages that was published in 1620. In the preface the compiler and publisher Henry Holland stated that where possible the engravings in the book were based on contemporary oil paintings. In a 1682 edition of the book once owned by the celebrated French print collector Pierre Mariette (1634-1716), an inscription in the margin described the source of this print of John Foxe as 'from Dr Fox his sons house'.