Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19721

    Portrait of Robert Boyle

    Date
    1800
    Sitter
    Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691, British) , Natural philosopher
    Creator
    John Chapman (British) , Engraver
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 220mm
    width (print): 135mm
    Subject
    Description
    Head and shoulders study of Robert Boyle, body half-turned to the left as viewed, looking directly to the viewer, with his head turned to the right. Presented in an oval frame, with a vignette below, showing chemical and furnace apparatus.

    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.38, as Weld’s text quotes from letters of Robert Boyle from 1646, in which he refers to an ‘Invisible College’ of philosophers.

    Inscribed below: ‘THE HONBLE. ROBERT BOYLE. J. Chapman sculpt. London publish’d as the Act directs April 19th 1800 by J. Wilkes.’

    Robert Boyle (1627-1691) British 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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