Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19615

    Portrait of Samuel Johnson

    Date
    c.1830
    Sitter
    Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784, British) , Lexicographer
    Creator
    John Rogers (British) , Engraver
    After
    John Opie (1761 - 1807, British) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 155mm
    width (print): 97mm
    Subject
    Description
    Half-length portrait of Samuel Johnson, turned to the left in half-profile. He wears an unbuttoned coat, waistcoat and wig.

    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.329 in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. In a footnote, Weld reproduces Dr. Johnson’s assessment of Robert Boyle, originally published in The Rambler.

    Inscription below: ‘SAMUEL JOHNSON. LL.D. Engraved by J. Rogers from a Painting by Opie.’.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) British author and lexicographer, creator of A dictionary of the English language (London, 1755).
    Object history
    Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 3... (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
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          > United Kingdom
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