Esther Vanhomrigh or Van Homrigh, an Irish woman of Dutch descent, was a longtime lover and correspondent of Jonathan Swift. Swift's letters to her were published after her death. Her fictional name "Vanessa" was created by Swift by taking Van from her surname, Vanhomrigh, and adding Esse, the pet form of her first name, Esther.
Esther Vanhomrigh
Vanessa by John Everett Millais, 1868. This is not a portrait, but is a work of artistic imagination
Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Portrait by Charles Jervas, 1710
The house in which Swift was born; 1865 illustration
Jonathan Swift in 1682, by Thomas Pooley. The artist had married into the Swift family.
Jonathan Swift (shown without wig) by Rupert Barber, 1745, National Portrait Gallery, London