In The Art of Thomas Gainsborough (1999), Michael Rosenthal writes that the interest of the very popular portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds "lay in the person represented" (12), including the 1760 portrait of Laurence Sterne. It was then re-engraved in 1761 by Edward Fisher for commercial sale, "meant to capitalize on Sterne's [also] amazing popularity" (12). Collecting images of those "in fashion" was common during this period.
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