PORTRAIT OF DANIEL LAMBERT, LEICESTER. [supplied title]

NP: np, nd. Engraving. Image size 18 x 27.5, on a 26.5 x 41 cm. sheet. A portrait of Daniel Lambert (1770-1809), Keeper of Bridewell House of Corrections and a sizable "Prodigy in Nature." Manuscript caption below the print: "Dan'l Lambert, Leicester." The portrait shows Lambert seated in a chair, wearing a striped waistcoat, with his left hand resting on the arm of the chair, his right arm with elbow lifted as he adjusts his coat. His hat rests on a small table to his left. A very good image.
In his lifetime Lambert was known as "the most corpulent man of his time in England." As a young man he learned the trade of engraving and die-sinking in Birmingham, but later returned home to take over his father's position as keeper of Bridewell House of Corrections. He began to gain weight eventually reaching some 32 stone [approx. 448 lbs.]. Already a visual oddity, he chose to make some profit from his size, visiting London and accepting payment from people who wanted to "view" him. According to his brief biography in the Dictionary of National Biography, he was described in one publication of the time: "When sitting he appears to be a mass of flesh, for his thighs are so covered by his belly that nothing but his knees are to be seen...." At the time of his death in 1809 at the age of 39, he weighed 52 3/4 stone [738.5 lbs.]. Item #65329

Price: $250.00