Looking for a special gift? Buy a print of this image.

    Portrait of Nevil Maskelyne

    Date
    1785
    Sitter
    Nevil Maskelyne (1732 - 1811, British) , Astronomer
    Creator
    Gerard van der Puyl (1750 - 1824, Dutch) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (painting): 1050mm
    width (painting): 868mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    Half-length portrait of Nevil Maskelyne seated in a green square-backed chair, dressed on a short white wig, black clerical robes and white bands. Maskelyne holds a sheaf of papers in his left hand, the top sheet with figures headed: “PRISMATIC MICRO-“. This rests on a leather bound volume, title on the spine: “MASKELYNE’S OBSERVATIONS GREENWICH”. Behind is a landscape of the Old Royal Observatory, Greenwich, with drapery to the left as viewed.

    Nevil Maskelyne was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1758.
    Transcription
    65
    Maskelyne
    G.MORRILL LINER
    NEVIL MASKELYNE, D.D., F.R.S. By L.F.VAN DER PUYL
    Object history
    Presented by Mrs Mervyn Story, 1828-1830.

    Margaret Maskelyne (1785-1858) who presented the painting was the daughter of Nevil Maskelyne. She married Anthony Mervyn Reeve Story (1791-1879) [later Story-Maskelyne FRS]. Presented between 1828 and 1830, the gift appears in the collected listing of gifts in the Philosophical Transactions, but a more specific date is absent from the Journal Books of the period. [“Presents received by the Royal Society, from 19th November 1828, to 17th June 1830; with the names of the donors”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol.120 (1830), supplement.p.11].
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
    Credit
    ©The Royal Society
    Image number
    RS.9716
    Powered by CollectionsIndex+/CollectionsOnline