Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9253
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Portrait of Isaac Newton
Date
1725-1726
Sitter
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727, British) , Natural philosopher
Creator
John Vanderbank (1694 - 1739, British) , painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (framed canvas): 1270mm
width (framed canvas): 1016mm
width (framed canvas): 1016mm
Subject
Description
Three-quarter length portrait of Isaac Newton, aged 83 years, seated, with his body half turned from the viewer. Newton is in a high-backed chair wearing an open brown coat, with white neck cloth and shirt cuffs. His hands are at rest, one supported by the chair arm. An architectural pillar is visible to the sitter’s left hand.
Inscribed: “SR. ISAAC NEWTON. P:R:S."
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), British natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, the same year his paper on the refraction of light through a prism, 'A Letter … Containing His New Theory about Light and Colors', was published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions. Newton served on the Society's Council from 1697 to 1699, and as its President from 1703 until his death in 1727.
Inscribed: “SR. ISAAC NEWTON. P:R:S."
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), British natural philosopher, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, the same year his paper on the refraction of light through a prism, 'A Letter … Containing His New Theory about Light and Colors', was published in the Society's Philosophical Transactions. Newton served on the Society's Council from 1697 to 1699, and as its President from 1703 until his death in 1727.
Transcription
“J. Vanderbank Fecit 1725.”
SIR ISAAC NEWTON, Pres.R.S. by VANDERBANCK
“Isaac Newton”
“X No.(18)”
SIR ISAAC NEWTON, Pres.R.S. by VANDERBANCK
“Isaac Newton”
“X No.(18)”
Object history
The provenance of the picture is discussed in detail by Charles Blacker Vignoles in his letter of presentation to the Society of 25 March 1841. [Royal Society Miscellaneous Correspondence MC/3/150: Charles Blacker Vignoles, 4 Trafalgar Square, 25 March 1841, to the Marquis of Northampton].
“My Lord, I have the honour of transmitting to your Lordship for presentation to the Royal Society, an original portrait of Sir Isaac Newton by Vanderbank...This picture has now been many years in my possession, and the tenure by which I kept it (as a collateral descendent of so illustrious a man) was too flattering not to have been a source of great personal gratification to me...It was painted the year before Newton died, and came into the family of the celebrated Lord Stanhope, who left it in his will to my grandfather, the late Dr Charles Hutton...remotely descended from Sir Isaac Newton...”
This letter was reproduced in Council Minutes for 22 April 1841 [Royal Society Council Minutes, Printed (CMP/1), volume 1, 1832-1836, 11 March 1841 meeting, pp.120-121].
“My Lord, I have the honour of transmitting to your Lordship for presentation to the Royal Society, an original portrait of Sir Isaac Newton by Vanderbank...This picture has now been many years in my possession, and the tenure by which I kept it (as a collateral descendent of so illustrious a man) was too flattering not to have been a source of great personal gratification to me...It was painted the year before Newton died, and came into the family of the celebrated Lord Stanhope, who left it in his will to my grandfather, the late Dr Charles Hutton...remotely descended from Sir Isaac Newton...”
This letter was reproduced in Council Minutes for 22 April 1841 [Royal Society Council Minutes, Printed (CMP/1), volume 1, 1832-1836, 11 March 1841 meeting, pp.120-121].
Associated place
