Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.13599

    Sculpture bust of Charles Lyell

    Date
    ca.1870s
    Sitter
    Charles Lyell (1797 - 1875, British) , Geologist
    Creator
    William Theed the Younger (1804 - 1891, British) , Sculptor
    After
    John Gibson (1790 - 1866, British) , Sculptor
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (sculpture): 559mm
    width (sculpture): 341mm
    depth (sculpture): 275mm
    Subject
    Description
    Bust of Charles Lyell, head and partial shoulders.

    Inscribed ‘SIR CHARLES LYELL’ front, ‘W. THEED, SC. COP/C’ right side and ‘PRESENTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY BY LEONARD LYELL 1878’ back.

    Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was a British geologist and evolutionary biologist, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826.
    Object history
    Provenance: Presented by Leonard Lyell, 1878.

    The donation is recorded in the Royal Society’s Council Minutes: ‘Read a letter from Mr. Leonard Lyell, offering to present to the Society a copy of the Bust (by Gibson) of the late Sir Charles Lyell, F.R.S. Resolved – That the Council accept Mr Lyell’s offer of the Bust with pleasure, and return him their best thanks.’ Royal Society Minutes of Council, Printed, v.5 1878-1884, meeting 16 May 1878, p.44.

    Cast and copies: Another version of this bust by Theed was created as part of the memorial for Lyell’s grave in Westminster Abbey, dated 1875.
    Associated place
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