Painting of Gulliver’s Travels author on sale

A painting thought to be the earliest likeness of Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, will be auctioned.

Swift is believed to be a 16-year-old student at Dublin College in the painting, which is predicted to fetch between £30,000 and £50,000.

The work is attributed to Thomas Pooley, the Irish artist, and is thought to have been painted around 1682.

For the first time in 200 years it will be sold, live online from Edinburgh by Lyon & Turnbull, on Wednesday in the “Five Centuries: Furniture, Paintings & Works of Art” sale.