Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.9661
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    Portrait of John Huxham

    Date
    ca. 1756
    Sitter
    John Huxham (1692 - 1768, British) , Physician
    Creator
    Thomas Reynell (1718 - 1788, British) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (painting): 763mm
    width (painting): 636mm
    Subject
    Description
    Half-length portrait of Huxham in a dark coat with a white cravat and lace cuffs. Huxham wears a short white wig and holds a cane of walking stick in his right hand, the gold head of which shows a spiral design. Huxham’s body is half-turned to the viewer’s right. He appears to be blind in the left eye.

    John Huxham was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1739.
    Transcription
    Dr Huxham
    JOHN HUXHAM, F.R.S. (1692-1768) by T.RENNEL
    Object history
    Presented by John Corham Huxham FRS, 1770.

    Notice of the donation appears in the Philosophical Transactions. [“Presents received by the Royal Society...”, Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society, vol.60 (1770), supplement, p.XV].

    According to James Northcote, who described the life of Reynell (or Rennell), this is the only portrait of John Huxham. [Supplement to the memoirs of the life, writings, discourses and professional works of Sir Joshua Reynolds..., by James Northcote (London, 1815), pp. v-vi]. However, the painting is discussed by William Schupbach in the context of the defaced picture of “Miss Irons”, who notes one other possible portrait. [“The fame and notoriety of Dr. John Huxham”, by William Schupbach, Medical History, vol.25, (1981), pp.415-421].
    Associated place
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