Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.11853

    'A meeting of the Royal Society in Crane Court'

    Date
    1878
    Sitter
    Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727, British) , Physicist
    Creator
    John Arthur Quartley (1818 - 1895, British) , Engraver
    Object type
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 184mm
    width (print): 258mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    Historical reconstruction of a meeting of the Royal Society at Crane Court, near Fleet Street, in London. A group of Fellows of the Royal Society are shown seated and standing, in attendance at an ordinary meeting. One gentleman appears to be reading a scientific paper to the gathering, while a Secretary confers with the President, Sir Isaac Newton, proffering a sheet of paper. Newton is shown seated and holding a gavel, before a covered table on which is laid the Society’s mace. The meeting is intended to be set in the period 1710-1727.

    Illustration from the book Old and New London: a Narrative of its History, its People, and its Places, by Walter Thornbury, 2 volumes, (Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878). The book was originally published in 1873; this picture is most likely from the second edition of 1878. The picture appears just before chapter 9, ‘Fleet Street Tributaries’, p.103.

    Inscribed below: ‘A MEETING OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY IN CRANE COURT (see p.106).’ Initialled lower left: ‘J.M.L.R.’ and lower right ‘J Quarley’.

    (George) Walter Thornbury (1828-1876) British author.
    Associated place
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