Portrait of Matthew Hopkins
Date
1805
Sitter
Matthew Hopkins (British) , Witch-hunter
Creator
James Caulfield (1764 - 1826, British) , Printer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 220mm
width (print): 135mm
width (print): 135mm
Subject
Description
Full length study of Matthew Hopkins, in puritan dress, including a cloak and hat, holding a staff, with his free hand raised. Shown within a lightly wooded landscape.
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.88, as Weld’s text notes ‘the notorious witch-finder’ as an example of Civil War superstition, before the establishment of the Royal Society. Originally published in The new original and complete wonderful museum and magazine extraordinary…by William Granger…assisted by James Caulfield, volume 3 (London, Alex Hogg & Co., 1805), p.1594
Inscribed above: ‘WONDERFUL MUSEUM’. Inscribed below: ‘Matthew Hoipkins Witch finder General. Caulfield sc.’
Matthew Hopkins (d.1647) British witch-finder, accused women of witchcraft in the south-east of England in the period 1644-1647, many of whom were executed as a result.
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.88, as Weld’s text notes ‘the notorious witch-finder’ as an example of Civil War superstition, before the establishment of the Royal Society. Originally published in The new original and complete wonderful museum and magazine extraordinary…by William Granger…assisted by James Caulfield, volume 3 (London, Alex Hogg & Co., 1805), p.1594
Inscribed above: ‘WONDERFUL MUSEUM’. Inscribed below: ‘Matthew Hoipkins Witch finder General. Caulfield sc.’
Matthew Hopkins (d.1647) British witch-finder, accused women of witchcraft in the south-east of England in the period 1644-1647, many of whom were executed as a result.
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