Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19756

    Portrait of René Descartes

    Date
    late 18th century
    Sitter
    René Descartes (1596 - 1650, French) , Philosopher
    Creator
    Unknown, Engraver
    After
    Frans Hals (1576 - 1666, Dutch) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 135mm
    width (print): 93mm
    Subject
    Description
    Half-length study of René Descartes, turned to the right as viewed, looking directly to the viewer. 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.130, in Weld’s text.

    Inscribed below: ‘DESCARTES.’

    René Descartes (1596-1650) French mathematician, scientist and philosopher.
    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
          > France
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
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