Sir Isaac Newton
1 portrait by Day & Son
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Sir Isaac Newton
by George B. Black, printed by Day & Son, published by Richard Andrew Grove, after William Gandy
lithograph, published 1848 (1706)
17 3/4 in. x 13 7/8 in. (450 mm x 354 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D38745
Sitterback to top
- Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Mathematical scientist. Sitter associated with 46 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- George B. Black (active 1844-1880), Lithographer. Artist or producer associated with 44 portraits.
- Day & Son (active 1824-1855), Lithographic printers. Artist or producer associated with 39 portraits.
- William Gandy (circa 1660-1729), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 4 portraits.
- Richard Andrew Grove (died 1849), Publisher and printseller. Artist or producer associated with 1 portrait.
Events of 1848back to top
Current affairs
Led by Feargus O'Connor, up to 50,000 Chartist members meet on Kennington Common, to form a procession and present another petition to Parliament. Although there was a large military and police presence, the rally was peaceful.Art and science
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood a group of English painters, poets and critics, is founded by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, intent on reforming art by rejecting the artists who imitated Raphael and Michelangelo. Instead, they advocated a return to a close observation of nature, invested with the intense detail, colours, and compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art, producing works layered with symbolism.International
Following the fall of the French monarchy, revolutions take place in France, Germany and Italy, provoked by a widespread desire for political independence from repressive regimes, and a range of economic problems which had caused unemployment, food shortages and poverty. Louis Napoleon becomes the first President of France's Second Republic.The first gold rush takes place in America, after gold is found on the Sacramento river, California.
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Cliff Thornton
30 August 2015, 09:10
Richard Andrew Grove was a marine publisher and printseller, based in Lymington, Hampshire, in the first half of the 19th C. In 1848 he decided to sell his collection of 130 paintings, collected over the previous 30 years, through a personal lottery, which became known as the "Lymington Distribution".
Grove planned to sell 1,000 tickets. Every purchaser of a one guinea ticket would receive two lithographs, and a chance to win one of the paintings from his collection. One of the two lithographs was a portrait of Sir Isaac Newton. This print was based upon one of the paintings which was in Grove's lottery. A local newspaper described the painted portrait as follows -
No 1250 "The recently-discovered Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton" inscribed Aetitis Suae, 64, 1706, is a remarkable fine and intellectual head. The expression of the eye is wonderful, and appears as if the Great Philosopher had just discovered some new cause of gravitation. There is also much dignity in the general character of the portrait, painted, as all portraits should be, particularly of great men, without trickery or adventitious ornaments - it is the man that should claim attention, not red curtains, tables and chairs."
The draw for the Lymington Distribution was scheduled for August 1848, but was rescheduled to allow for more of the 1,000 tickets to be sold. Unfortunately Mr Grove died in April 1849, a month before the draw was due to take place.
I believe that the portrait of Newton is that painted by William Gandy junior in 1706, see "The Iconography of Sir Isaac Newton" by Milo Keynes, 2005, Item XXXIII. There is circumstantial evidence for this portrait as Keynes records a previous owner of the painting as John Abel Walter of Lymington. Keynes also points out that image XLIV-1, the 1848 lithograph, is based upon this painting.