Colley Cibber
- Artist: Gerard Vandergucht
- Artist: Jean Baptiste van Loo
- Date: 1740
- Medium: line engraving
- Dimensions: Long Term Loan
- Portrays: Colley Cibber
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
Here we have a line engraving of Colley Cibber, the English dramatist and actor who lived from 1671 to 1757. The image was made by Gerard Vandergucht in 1740, based on an original painting by Jean‑Baptiste van Loo. Vandergucht’s engraving captures Cibber’s face with precise lines: the gentle set of his lips, the earnest gaze, and the slightly furrowed brow that suggests a mind at work. His costume is rendered in detailed linework—soft folds of drapery and subtle shading hinting at texture without color. The engraving’s style reflects 18th‑century portraiture, with an emphasis on form rather than tonal value. This version was published in 1740 and was once lent to a Long Term Loan; it now rests in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection as NPG L269.B5.25.
See it in person
Colley Cibber is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
