Portrait of Derek Denton
Date
2010
Sitter
Derek Ashworth Denton (Australian) , Physiologist
Creator
Janet Dawson (1935, Australian) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 585mm
width (painting): 419mm
width (painting): 419mm
Subject
Description
Head and shoulders portrait of Professor Derek Denton AC, FRS, FAA, FRCP, Founding Director of the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, Melbourne, Australia. Professor Denton is shown at a younger age than the actual date of the painting, based upon photographs provided by him and from the artist’s personal knowledge. Denton is shown smiling and angled slightly to the viewer’s left. He wears a suit jacket, white shirt striped with blue and a grey-green tie.
The composition, hanging in its preferred condition (without a conventional frame) continues around the angle of the canvas. The background is clouded, in keeping with many of Dawson paintings, and appropriate for a work which, although contemporary, aims to capture its subject in an earlier, unspecified time of life.
Derek Denton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999.
The composition, hanging in its preferred condition (without a conventional frame) continues around the angle of the canvas. The background is clouded, in keeping with many of Dawson paintings, and appropriate for a work which, although contemporary, aims to capture its subject in an earlier, unspecified time of life.
Derek Denton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999.
Object history
Presented by Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE.
The work was painted at the artist’s home in Binalong, New South Wales, July 2009-June 2010 and was presented by Derek Denton’s wife, Dame Margaret Scott. The work was brought to London by Professor Denton, attending the Royal Society’s 350th Anniversary Convocation in 2010. [Provenance note by Janet Dawson, 16 June 2010, with supplementary information by Professor Derek Denton, Royal Society provenance file].
The work was painted at the artist’s home in Binalong, New South Wales, July 2009-June 2010 and was presented by Derek Denton’s wife, Dame Margaret Scott. The work was brought to London by Professor Denton, attending the Royal Society’s 350th Anniversary Convocation in 2010. [Provenance note by Janet Dawson, 16 June 2010, with supplementary information by Professor Derek Denton, Royal Society provenance file].
Associated place