Portrait of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle
Date
late 18th century
Sitter
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657 - 1757, French) , Natural philosopher
Creator
Thomas Cook (1744 - 1818, British) , Engraver
After
Pierre Savart (1737 - 1780, French) , Draughtsman
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 165mm
width (print): 112mm
width (print): 112mm
Subject
Description
Head and shoulders portrait of Fontenelle, wearing a robe and cravat, with a wig. Turned to the right as viewed, head inclined towards the viewer. Presented in an oval, supported on a pedestal.
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.269 in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History.
Inscription below: ‘FONTENELLE. Savart, del. T. Cook, sculp:’.
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.269 in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History.
Inscription below: ‘FONTENELLE. Savart, del. T. Cook, sculp:’.
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) , Author
Associated place