Credit: ©The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9735
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Portrait of Thomas Paget
Date
17th - 18th century
Sitter
Thomas Paget (1638 - 1717)
Creator
Attributed to Mary Beale (1633 - 1699, English) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 978mm
width (painting): 762mm
width (painting): 762mm
Content object
Description
Half-length portrait of Thomas Paget D.D. turned to the left as viewed. Paget is in clerical dress, a black gown with white bands and a shoulder-length grey wig. Paget’s hands are crossed and in the right he holds a small volume bound in blue leather with gilt edges and tooling, a place marked by his index finger.
Transcription
Paget
THOMAS PAGET, D.D. (1638-1717) by MARY BEALE
THOMAS PAGET, D.D. (1638-1717) by MARY BEALE
Object history
Probably bequeathed in 1717.
The attribution to Mary Beale is expressed as “Mary Beale ?” in the Society’s first printed list of portraits and quickly became formalized in subsequent catalogues. [Portraits in possession of the Royal Society (London, Royal Society, 1834), p.3]. There is no documentary evidence to support the attribution.
Paget bequeathed two houses in Coleman Street, London, to the Society in his will, in addition to several portraits. Although not separately noted, this work is likely to have been received at that time. The painting was in the Society’s collection by 1768, as it was noted by a contemporary visitor, hanging in the Anti-chamber at Crane Court. [“A list of original pictures at the Royal Society House. Communicated by a Connoisseur’, Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 38 (1768), pp. 62-3].
Paget donated three portraits to the Society in his will: those of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and Henry More (1614-1687).
The attribution to Mary Beale is expressed as “Mary Beale ?” in the Society’s first printed list of portraits and quickly became formalized in subsequent catalogues. [Portraits in possession of the Royal Society (London, Royal Society, 1834), p.3]. There is no documentary evidence to support the attribution.
Paget bequeathed two houses in Coleman Street, London, to the Society in his will, in addition to several portraits. Although not separately noted, this work is likely to have been received at that time. The painting was in the Society’s collection by 1768, as it was noted by a contemporary visitor, hanging in the Anti-chamber at Crane Court. [“A list of original pictures at the Royal Society House. Communicated by a Connoisseur’, Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 38 (1768), pp. 62-3].
Paget donated three portraits to the Society in his will: those of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and Henry More (1614-1687).
Associated place