Portrait of Margaret Cavendish
Date
1662
Sitter
Margaret Cavendish (1623 - 1674, British) , Natural philosopher
Creator
Pieter Louis van Schuppen (1627 - 1702, Flemish) , Engraver
After
Abraham Diepenbeeck (1596 - 1675, Flemish) , Painter
Image reference
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 265mm
width (print): 160mm
width (print): 160mm
Subject
Description
Full-length portrait of Margaret Cavendish standing in a niche. She is flanked by the classical figures of Athena, goddess of wisdom, on the left side of the image and Apollo, god of truth and the arts, on the right side. Cavendish is shown in flowing robes, a beaded necklace and a small crown and is presented turned slightly towards her left. She is seen holding the folds of her robes with her left hand, with her feet visible underneath.
The plinth below her niche is surrounded by cornucopias and contains a sonnet praising her beauty and intellect written by her husband William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1593-1676). The poem was published in the opening of her fiction work The Blazing World (1666).
Inscribed below: ‘Here on this Figure Cast a Glance, / But so as if it were by Chance, / Your eyes not fixt, they must not Stay, / Since this like Shadowes to the Day / It only represent's; for Still, / Her Beauty's found beyond the Skill / Of the best Paynter, to Imbrace, / These lovely Lines within her face, / View her Soul's Picture, Judgment, witt, / Then read those Lines which Shee hath writt, / By Phancy's Pencill drawne alone / Which Peces but Shee, can justly owne.
Annotated above in pen: ‘The Ladye / Elizabeth Beaumont / Her / Perfect resemblance'.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673), English writer and philosopher, was the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society in May 1667. She was not elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
The plinth below her niche is surrounded by cornucopias and contains a sonnet praising her beauty and intellect written by her husband William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1593-1676). The poem was published in the opening of her fiction work The Blazing World (1666).
Inscribed below: ‘Here on this Figure Cast a Glance, / But so as if it were by Chance, / Your eyes not fixt, they must not Stay, / Since this like Shadowes to the Day / It only represent's; for Still, / Her Beauty's found beyond the Skill / Of the best Paynter, to Imbrace, / These lovely Lines within her face, / View her Soul's Picture, Judgment, witt, / Then read those Lines which Shee hath writt, / By Phancy's Pencill drawne alone / Which Peces but Shee, can justly owne.
Annotated above in pen: ‘The Ladye / Elizabeth Beaumont / Her / Perfect resemblance'.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673), English writer and philosopher, was the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society in May 1667. She was not elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.