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    Portrait of William Kingdon Clifford

    Date
    1878
    Sitter
    William Kingdon Clifford (1845 - 1879, British) , Mathematician
    Creator
    John Collier (1850 - 1934, British) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (painting): 864mm
    width (painting): 1117mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    A landscape-format picture in which Clifford looks directly to the viewer, posed side-on and working at his desk. An untidy scatter of books and papers is on the desktop; with a glass inkwell beside which Clifford holds a quill pen poised in his right hand. Above this, on the wall to the upper left is a framed photograph with a family group. Clifford has reddish-brown swept-back hair and a full beard and wears a black coat.

    William Clifford was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1874.
    Transcription
    Winsor & Newton
    WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, F.R.S. (1845-1879) by THE HON. JOHN COLLIER.
    Object history
    The presentation is noted in Council Minutes: “The Secretaries reported a gift from the Executors of the late Mrs. W.K.Clifford, of a portrait of Prof. W.K.Clifford F.R.S., by the Hon. John Collier. “ [Royal Society Council Minutes, Printed, 1926-32, vol.13, p.179, meeting of 4 July 1929, minute 16].

    The artist John Collier was the son-in-law of Thomas Henry Huxley, whom he painted. Collier was thus able to paint the scientific elite of the late 19th century especially of the Darwin-Huxley circle. In addition to Huxley, the Society has portraits by Collier of: William Kingdon Clifford, Michael Foster, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Huggins, James Prescott Joule and William Spottiswoode with one painting of Charles Darwin after Collier’s original.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
    Credit
    © The Royal Society
    Image number
    RS.9266
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