Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.19992

    Portrait of Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

    Date
    late 18th century
    Sitter
    Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1687 - 1751, British) , Politician
    Creator
    Unknown, Engraver
    After
    Jonathan Richardson (1667 - 1745, British) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 220mm
    width (print): 135mm
    Subject
    Description
    Head and shoulders portrait of Henry St. John, in profile, facing to the left as viewed. The sitter is shown bare headed, with a loose robe and open shirt. Presented in a decorative oval.

    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.420 in volume 4 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. The text reproduces a letter from Bolingbroke, assuring Council of the Royal Society of Queen Anne’s support in instructing Ministers and Governors going overseas to aid in promoting the Royal Society’s work.

    Inscription below: ‘HENRY St. JOHN VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE’.

    Henry St. John, styled 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751) British politician, diplomatist and author. He served in various offices as a British Secretary of State before exile in Paris where he joined the Stuart Jacobite cause. He was pardoned upon his return to England.
    Object history
    Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 4... (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>
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          > United Kingdom
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