"John Donne in his Winding Cloth" unsigned. 22 1/2 inches. N.B. There is a compelling description of how Donne prepared both the sermon and the portrait, in Izaac Walton?s Life of John Donne (second edition, 1658). Walton tells how the Dean insisted on preaching in London, although he was fatally ill with ?flesh? just covering his bones. Those who saw Donne in the pulpit, with his ?decayed body, and a dying face?, secretly wondered if he might be a corpse (pp. 103?04). Walton further explained Donne posed for a morbid sketch of himself as he would look after death. Wrapping his naked body in a winding-sheet, knotted at the head and feet, Donne stood on a wooden urn with his eyes shut. (Life of John Donne, pp. 112-13). He set the completed picture by his bedside, where it remained until his death.

Nose and cloth at top of head bumped. Scattered paint loss to base.