Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9256
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Portrait of Isaac Newton
Date
ca. 1726
Sitter
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727, British) , Natural philosopher
Creator
William Stukeley (1687 - 1765, British) , Antiquary
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 194mm
width (drawing): 158mm
width (drawing): 158mm
Subject
Description
Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton at around 77 years of age. Newton’s face is shown in profile, in the style of a medallion. Supported by a multi-breasted female figure, possibly Diana, sitting on a globe upon which is the constellation of the Plough. Two comets in intersecting elliptical orbits are shown overhead.
Milo Keynes [Milo Keynes, The iconography of Sir Isaac Newton to 1800, 2005, pp.27-29] interprets the picture as alluding to the story of Jason. Newton had calculated the date of the Argonauts’ expedition in his work The chronology of ancient kingdoms amended (1728).
Isaac Newton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, he served as its President from 1703 to 1727.
Milo Keynes [Milo Keynes, The iconography of Sir Isaac Newton to 1800, 2005, pp.27-29] interprets the picture as alluding to the story of Jason. Newton had calculated the date of the Argonauts’ expedition in his work The chronology of ancient kingdoms amended (1728).
Isaac Newton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672, he served as its President from 1703 to 1727.
Transcription
W.Stukeley ad viva f. [ecit]
‘Sr. Is. Newton’
‘Sr. Is. Newton’
Object history
The portrait forms part of the manuscript Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s life by William Stukeley. Although the completed work dates from 1752, the drawing is pasted into the volume and is inscribed as being from life.
Therefore, the work is likely to date from Stukeley’s London residency, 1717-1726 when he was in regular contact with Newton and this is confirmed by Stukeley’s note within the manuscript: “I made several drawings of him from the life, chiefly in the antique way of profile; and very like; whereof that here prefixed is one” [Royal Society MS/142].
However the picture bears some evidence of being revisited by William Stukeley when it was incorporated into the text. At the left-hand border, for example, the wash has been extended from the original paper to the paste-down page. The headband worn by Newton has been pasted to the original drawing with ink-wash retouching to blend it into the composition.
The manuscript Life, was the property of Stukeley’s direct descendent, Oliver S F St John of Canon Bredons, Hardwick, Tewkesbury, until its sale at Sotheby’s in 1931. It was presented to the Royal Society by Alfred Hastings White in 1936, “through the good offices of Messrs Davis and Orioli of Museum Street, Bloomsbury”. White transcribed the manuscript and edited for publication in the same year [Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life by William Stukeleyedited by A Hastings White (London, Taylor and Francis, 1936), 86pp].
Therefore, the work is likely to date from Stukeley’s London residency, 1717-1726 when he was in regular contact with Newton and this is confirmed by Stukeley’s note within the manuscript: “I made several drawings of him from the life, chiefly in the antique way of profile; and very like; whereof that here prefixed is one” [Royal Society MS/142].
However the picture bears some evidence of being revisited by William Stukeley when it was incorporated into the text. At the left-hand border, for example, the wash has been extended from the original paper to the paste-down page. The headband worn by Newton has been pasted to the original drawing with ink-wash retouching to blend it into the composition.
The manuscript Life, was the property of Stukeley’s direct descendent, Oliver S F St John of Canon Bredons, Hardwick, Tewkesbury, until its sale at Sotheby’s in 1931. It was presented to the Royal Society by Alfred Hastings White in 1936, “through the good offices of Messrs Davis and Orioli of Museum Street, Bloomsbury”. White transcribed the manuscript and edited for publication in the same year [Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life by William Stukeleyedited by A Hastings White (London, Taylor and Francis, 1936), 86pp].
Associated place