Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19744

    Portrait of Charles II

    Date
    1745
    Sitter
    Charles II (1630 - 1685, British)
    Creator
    George Vertue (1684 - 1756, British) , Engraver
    After
    Peter Lely (1618 - 1680, Dutch) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 190mm
    width (print): 110mm
    Subject
    Description
    Half-length study of Charles II, turned to the left as viewed, looking directly to the viewer. Charles wears a wig, armour with a lace cravat and the chain and insignia of the Order of the Garter. Presented in an oval frame, with an oak leaf motif.

    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.89, as Weld’s text gives an account of the Restoration entry of Charles II into London; and in July 1660, his conferring the Royal touch for scrofula, or ‘the King’s evil’, with John Evelyn’s description of the ceremony.

    Inscribed below: ‘K. CHARLES II. P. Lely p. G Vertue sculp.’

    Charles II (1630-1685) King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Royal patron and founder of the Royal Society.
    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
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
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