Sir Isaac Newton
4 of 44 portraits of Sir Isaac Newton
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© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Isaac Newton
by Unknown artist
iron cast of death-mask, based on a work of circa 1727
7 3/4 in. x 5 3/4 in. (197 mm x 146 mm)
Given by Frank Baxter, 1925
Primary Collection
NPG 2081
Sitterback to top
- Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Mathematical scientist. Sitter associated with 46 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Cooper, John, Great Britons: The Great Debate, 2002, p. 75 Read entry
Death masks were powerful commemorators. This is a cast from Rysbrack's which he took directly from Newton.
- Ingamells, John, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, 2009, p. 191
- Jordanova, Ludmilla, Defining Features: Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000, 2000 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 14 April to 17 September 2000), p. 34
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 458
Events of 1727back to top
Current affairs
George I dies on 11 January. George II is proclaimed king; the second Hanoverian on the British throne. Handel composes Zadok the Priest for his coronation which has been sung at every British coronation since.Royal Bank of Scotland is founded by Royal Charter in Edinburgh.
Janet (Jenny) Horne of Loth, Sutherland, becomes the last alleged witch to be executed in Britain when she is burned at the stake in Dornoch, Scotland.
Art and science
Artist Thomas Gainsborough is born in Sudbury, Suffolk in May.Architect William Kent publishes Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones, including additional designs by himself and his patron Lord Burlington.German composer George Frideric Handel becomes a British subject.
Scientist Sir Isaac Newton dies.
International
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach conducts the first performance of his St Matthew Passion in St Thomas's church, Leipzig.Spain besieges Gibraltar in order to recapture the territory from the British.
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