Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9243
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Portrait of William Crookes
Date
1911
Sitter
William Crookes (1832 - 1919, British) , Knight Chemist, Chemist
Creator
Edward Arthur Walton (1860 - 1922, British) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (framed canvas): 1210mm
width (framed canvas): 960mm
width (framed canvas): 960mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Williams Crookes is posed seated in a high-backed chair, half-length, holding what may be an early form of cathode ray tube in his left hand. The subject is shown half-face. Behind, in a freely painted backdrop to the main subject, are a diamond-vane radiometer upper right and a bookcase in the lower left of the painting. Crookes bearded and dressed formally, dark suit and wing collar, with a watch chain visible at the waistcoat.
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919), British chemist and science journalist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He served as the Society's Foreign Secretary from 1908-1912, and its President from 1913-1915.
He was awarded the Society's Royal Medal in 1875 'for his various chemical and physical researches', its Davy Medal in 1888 'for his investigations on the behaviour of substances under the influences of the electric discharge in a high vacuum', and its Copley Medal in 1904 'for his long-continued researches in spectroscopic chemistry, on electrical & mechanical phenomena in highly-rarefied gases, on radio-active phenomena, and other subjects'. He also delivered the Society's Bakerian Lecture three times, in 1878, 1879 and 1883.
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919), British chemist and science journalist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He served as the Society's Foreign Secretary from 1908-1912, and its President from 1913-1915.
He was awarded the Society's Royal Medal in 1875 'for his various chemical and physical researches', its Davy Medal in 1888 'for his investigations on the behaviour of substances under the influences of the electric discharge in a high vacuum', and its Copley Medal in 1904 'for his long-continued researches in spectroscopic chemistry, on electrical & mechanical phenomena in highly-rarefied gases, on radio-active phenomena, and other subjects'. He also delivered the Society's Bakerian Lecture three times, in 1878, 1879 and 1883.
Transcription
SIR WILLIAM CROOKES, O.M., F.R.S BY E.A.WATSON
SIR JAMES BURROW PRESIDENT 1768 AND 1772 (FOR SHORT PERIODS) BY JEAN BAPTISTE VANLOO
meeting room grd.
R. Society July 4 88 Frame 1
Sir J. Burrow
vaulted corridor gnd.
...ced picture liners A...n Dott & Son May 1842 26 So Castle St. Edinburgh
Own make
Royal Society - Burlington House Walton Memorial Exhibition Crookes (?) 4th December 1928
No. 567/3
SIR JAMES BURROW PRESIDENT 1768 AND 1772 (FOR SHORT PERIODS) BY JEAN BAPTISTE VANLOO
meeting room grd.
R. Society July 4 88 Frame 1
Sir J. Burrow
vaulted corridor gnd.
...ced picture liners A...n Dott & Son May 1842 26 So Castle St. Edinburgh
Own make
Royal Society - Burlington House Walton Memorial Exhibition Crookes (?) 4th December 1928
No. 567/3
Object history
Under ‘Benefactions received…1911’, the Society’s Yearbook briefly noted “Portrait of Sir W. Crookes, O.M., For.Sec.R.S. From a Committee of Subscribers.” [Yearbook of the Royal Society of London. 1912. (Royal Society, London, 1912) p.190. ]
Associated place