Portrait of Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier
Date
1801
Sitter
Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804, British) , Natural philosopher
Antoine Lavoisier (1743 - 1764, French) , Chemist
Antoine Lavoisier (1743 - 1764, French) , Chemist
Creator
James Caldwall (1739 - 1822, British) , Engraver
After
Object type
Image reference
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (paper): 460mm
width (paper): 318mm
width (paper): 318mm
Subject
Description
Double portrait of Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier. Priestely is shown above, half-length within an oval frame. He is facing slightly towards his right and is shown wearing a dark jacket and a short wig. The frame is shown to be held by a large eagle, presented against a clouded sky. Priestley’s likeness is based on a painted portrait by John Opie, now in Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford.
Lavoisier is shown below, within an oval frame surmounted by a laurel wreath. He is shown in a dark jacket and white cravat. Lavoisier is shown to be looking up and to his right, his likeness based on a detail from Jacques-Louis David's Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife (1788) now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In the original painting Lavoisier is seated and looking up towards his wife and collaborator, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier.
Inscribed above: ‘Chemical Philosophers of the present Day.’ Inscribed: ‘DR. PRIESTLEY.’ ‘LAVOISIER.’ Inscribed below: ‘Opie and David pinxt.’ ‘Caldwall sculpt.’ ‘London, Published May 1. 1801, by Dr Thornton.’
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), British theologian and natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766.
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794), French chemist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1788.
Lavoisier is shown below, within an oval frame surmounted by a laurel wreath. He is shown in a dark jacket and white cravat. Lavoisier is shown to be looking up and to his right, his likeness based on a detail from Jacques-Louis David's Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his Wife (1788) now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In the original painting Lavoisier is seated and looking up towards his wife and collaborator, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier.
Inscribed above: ‘Chemical Philosophers of the present Day.’ Inscribed: ‘DR. PRIESTLEY.’ ‘LAVOISIER.’ Inscribed below: ‘Opie and David pinxt.’ ‘Caldwall sculpt.’ ‘London, Published May 1. 1801, by Dr Thornton.’
Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), British theologian and natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1766.
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794), French chemist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1788.