J. Dickinson, Esqr. — Member of Congress & Author of Letters of a Farmer in Pennsylvania
London: R. Wilkinson, No. 58 Cornhill, May 15, 1783
Stipple and line engraving, after Pierre Eugène du Simitière — Frame: 7 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches; sight: 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches 
 
An oval portrait engraving of John Dickinson, shown in profile and identified in the caption as “J. Dickinson Esqr. Member of Congress & Author of Letters of a Farmer of Pensylvania.” The portrait was drawn by Pierre Eugène du Simitière and engraved by B. B. Ellis, presenting Dickinson in a restrained classical format typical of late eighteenth-century political portraiture.
Dickinson was among the most influential political writers of the Revolutionary era. His Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, first published in 1768, articulated the colonial argument against Parliamentary taxation and circulated widely throughout the colonies, helping to shape American resistance to British policy in the years preceding the Revolution. Though later remembered as the “Penman of the Revolution,” Dickinson maintained a moderate political stance, advocating colonial rights while initially seeking reconciliation with Britain.
 
Published in London in 1783, the year the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war, the engraving reflects continued British interest in the principal figures and intellectual voices of the American struggle for independence.
 
Condition: Excellent.