A half-length portrait to the right in a painted oval showing the sitter wearing a blue/ mauve gown, but his identification as Defoe is questionable, despite being acquired on that basis in 1944. The 1961 'Preliminary Catalogue of Portraits' expresses doubt on the grounds that the likeness does not match BHC2648 (acquired in 1934). In fact, the nose profile of the sitter here - slightly curved - is closer to various contemporary prints of Defoe than that of the sitter in BHC2648, of whom the identity is also only one of prior tradition and perceived likeness to prints, especially one by van der Gucht of 1706. Since the Museum's first Director, Sir Geoffrey Callender, supported the acquisition of both paintings, the justification for acquiring this one as a second is no longer clear. It appeared as lot 106 at a Christie's sale on 6 October 1944 and was purchased for just under £28 (including commission to Spink's as agent) but no other paperwork on the matter appears to survive. It may have been a case of low-cost hedging of bets, given that neither of the Defoe portraits by Taverner that were claimed to be the basis of prints are known, nor the oil by Jonathan Richardson the elder that was also basis of a late-life one. The young man shown here with a slightly curved nose might imaginably have become the older one shown by Richardson but that is not proof he did. An image of the present portrait can be found on the Art UK website. [PvdM 5/23]