Portrait of Christiaan Huygens
Date
18th century
Sitter
Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 2006, Dutch) , Mathematician
Creator
Frederik Ottens, Engraver
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 220mm
width (print): 135mm
width (print): 135mm
Subject
Description
Head and shoulders study of Christiaan Huygens, wearing a wig, with a shirt and loose robe. Body inclined to the left as viewed, the sitter looking directly to the viewer. Presented in an oval frame, on a pedestal.
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.114, as Weld’s text notes that in 1661, Huygens communicated his observations of Saturn to the Royal Society and relayed news of the Academie des Sciences in France.
Inscribed below: ‘CHRISTIANUS HUGENSIUS natus 14 Aprilis 1629. denatus 8 Junii 1695. Fr. Ottens Sculp. LUGD. BAT. Apud JANSSONIOS VAN DER Aa. Bibliopolas.’
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663.
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.114, as Weld’s text notes that in 1661, Huygens communicated his observations of Saturn to the Royal Society and relayed news of the Academie des Sciences in France.
Inscribed below: ‘CHRISTIANUS HUGENSIUS natus 14 Aprilis 1629. denatus 8 Junii 1695. Fr. Ottens Sculp. LUGD. BAT. Apud JANSSONIOS VAN DER Aa. Bibliopolas.’
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663.
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