Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19718

    Portrait of John Wilkins

    Date
    1691
    Sitter
    John Wilkins (1614 - 1672, British) , Natural philosopher
    Creator
    John Sturt (1658 - 1730, British) , Engraver
    After
    Mary Beale (1633 - 1699, English) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 154mm
    width (print): 94mm
    Subject
    Description
    Half-length study of John Wilkins, turned to the right as viewed. The sitter wears ecclesiastical robe, surplice and bands, and has long natural hair. Presented in an oval frame.

    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 engraving appears at p.31 in Weld’s text, which lists the natural philosophers meeting regularly at Gresham College, or at Jonathan Goddard’s lodgings, in London from 1645. John Wilkins heads the list of these academics in creating a prototype of the Royal Society.

    Inscribed below: ‘Effigies Reverendi admodum Viri IOHANNIS WILKINS Nuper Episcopi Cestriensis. Sturl Sculp:’

    John Wilkins (1614-1672) British theologian and natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1660.
    Object history
    Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 1... (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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