Sir Humphry Davy, Bt

1 portrait on display in Room 18 at the National Portrait Gallery

by Henry Howard
oil on canvas, 1803
50 1/2 in. x 40 1/2 in. (1283 mm x 1029 mm)
Purchased, 1967
Primary Collection
NPG 4591

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Sitterback to top

Sir Humphry Davy, Bt (1778-1829), Natural philosopher. Sitter in 20 portraits.

Artistback to top

Henry Howard (1769-1847), Painter. Artist associated with 28 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Davy was a close friend of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey and from them he absorbed the concept of 'Romantic genius' to which he aspired. With good looks and entrepreneurial flair, He was one of a new breed of celebrity scientists whose experiments, at the newly established Royal Institution, were so charismatic that they became social events. Witnessing these, Mary Shelley took Davy as the model for Dr Frankenstein the scientist who holds the terrifying secret of life-giving power.

Linked publicationsback to top

Audio Guide
Hackmann, W.D., Apples and Atoms: Portraits of Scientists from Newton to Rutherford, 1986, p. 37
Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 151
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 168
Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 1794