THE HONble ROBERT BOYLE
date: label: date made
content: 1740
notes: label: Description
content: Line engraving depicting the head and shoulders of Robert Boyle (1627-1691), a wealthy and accomplished English natural philosopher facing three-quarters to his right and enclosed in an oval frame. Boyle here wears a banyan, white cravat, and curly wig. Light coming through clouds at top left shines on his face. The plinth below the portrait holds mineral specimens, a pair of dividers, and several books. The Boyle family coat of arms appears on the side of the plinth. Below the plinth are such other symbols of Boyle’s science as an air pump, a flask, a bottle, two crucible tongs, a crumpled paper and some flowers. The signatures at bottom read “Geo. Vertue del. & Sculpt 1739” and I Kersseboom pinxt” and “Impensis I. & P. Knapton Londini 1740” and “In the Collection of Dr. Mead.”
label: Description
content: This image is based on the full-length portrait of Boyle that Johann Kersseboom (d. 1708) painted in the late 1680s, and that shows Boyle sitting at a table, facing to his right, pointing to a book, and wearing a banyan, white cravat, and curly wig. Several versions of that painting are known. This engraving, done by George Vertue (1683-1756), is based on the version that belonged to Richard Mead, an English physician who collected paintings, books and other rare objects. John and Paul Knapton, the publisher of the print, were in business in London from 1735 to 1789.
label: Description
content: This engraving was included in Thomas Birch, ed., <i>Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain</i> (London, 1743-1751).
label: Description
content: Ref: R. E. W. Maddison, “The Portraiture of the Honourable Robert Boyle, F. R. S.,” <i>Annals of Science</i> 15 (1959): 141-214.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Chemistry
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: PH.319384
label: catalog number
content: 319384
label: accession number
content: 236658
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 3/4 in x 10 in; 42.545 cm x 25.4 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 in x 15 1/2 in x 1/2 in; 53.34 cm x 39.37 cm x 1.27 cm