Sr ISAAC NEWTON
date: label: date made
content: 1778
notes: label: Description
content: In 1702, living in London and serving as Master of the Mint, Isaac Newton sat for Godfrey Kneller, the most famous and probably the most expensive portrait painter in London. For this portrait he wore a red banyan and a flowing wig.
label: Description
content: This is one of many engraved copies of that image. The text at the bottom reads “Sr ISAAC NEWTON” and “G. Kneller pinxt” and “Wm. Sharp sculpt” and “G. Kearsley, No 46 Fleet Street.” Newton here looks to his left (rather than to his right as in the Kneller portrait). A laurel branch appears at one side and an oil lamp at the other. Below are figures of a globe, a large lens, a refracting telescope, books, papers, geometrical diagrams, and a woman who probably represents Urania, the muse of astronomy.
label: Description
content: William Sharp (1749-1824) was an engraver in London. George Kearsley (fl. 1758-1791) was a publisher of books and prints. He was also responsible for <i>The Copper Plate Magazine</i>, “a monthly treasure for admirers of the imitative arts.” Our engraving appeared in the 1778 edition of that work.
label: Description
content: Ref: Patricia Fara, <i>Newton. The Making of Genius</i> (New York, 2003).
label: Description
content: Milo Keynes, ed., <i>The Iconography of Sir Isaac Newton to 1800</i> (Woodbridge, 2005), p. 56.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Prints from the Physical Sciences Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0076.01
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0076.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0076
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/4 in x 6 3/4 in; 20.955 cm x 17.145 cm