Portrait of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle
Date
early 18th century
Sitter
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657 - 1757, French) , Natural philosopher
Creator
Michel Dossier (1684 - 1750, French) , Engraver
After
Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659 - 1743, French) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 160mm
width (print): 105mm
width (print): 105mm
Subject
Description
Half-length portrait of Fontenelle, wearing a turban, with a loose cloak draped over a shirt, open at the neck. Presented in an oval.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears at p.255 in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. In a footnote, Weld quotes from Fontenelle’s Histoire de l’Académie Royal des Sciences.
Inscription above: ‘Titre Tome I.’ Inscribed below: ‘H. Rigaud pinx. Mi. Dossier sculp. BERNARD DE FONTENELLE Des Académies Francoises, des Sciences, des Belles Lettres, de Londres, de Nancy, de Berlin et de Rome.’
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757) French natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1733.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears at p.255 in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. In a footnote, Weld quotes from Fontenelle’s Histoire de l’Académie Royal des Sciences.
Inscription above: ‘Titre Tome I.’ Inscribed below: ‘H. Rigaud pinx. Mi. Dossier sculp. BERNARD DE FONTENELLE Des Académies Francoises, des Sciences, des Belles Lettres, de Londres, de Nancy, de Berlin et de Rome.’
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757) French natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1733.
Object history
Print from Charles Richard Weld's 2 volume A history of the Royal Society... (London, John W. Parker, 1848) grangerized by the writer and collector Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) into 8 volumes, adding illustrative material and manuscript items to Weld's text. The books were initially owned by Ludwig Mond FRS (1839–1909), and according to an inscription by his son Robert Ludwig Mond FRS (1867–1938) they were intended for presentation to the Society. This eventually happened in late 1959, the donor being the politician Harry Nathan (1889–1963), Lord Nathan of Churt.
Related fellows
Charles Richard Weld (1813 - 1869, British) , Natural philosopher
Associated place