10 OF 22 
Sir William Huggins
10 of 22 portraits by John Collier
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Sir William Huggins
replica by John Collier
oil on canvas, 1905
35 1/2 in. x 27 1/2 in. (902 mm x 699 mm)
Given by the sitter's widow, 1912
Primary Collection
NPG 1682
Artistback to top
- John Collier (1850-1934), Portrait painter and writer on art. Artist or producer associated with 22 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
This portraitback to top
A replica of the portrait presented by subscribers to the Royal Society in 1905, Huggins is shown seated in the Presidential Chair.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Hackmann, W.D., Apples and Atoms: Portraits of Scientists from Newton to Rutherford, 1986, p. 64
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 318
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1905back to top
Current affairs
Following turmoil over the issue of Free Trade, Balfour resigns and calls an election, believing that the Liberals will be defeated. However, he is mistaken and Henry Campbell-Bannerman replaces him as the Liberal government Prime Minister.The foundation of the Ulster Unionist Council, established to campaign against Home Rule, marks the birth of the Ulster Unionist party in Northern Ireland with the Duke of Abercorn as the first elected president.
Art and science
The Bloomsbury group of artists and intellectuals begin to hold informal gatherings at the home of Vanessa and Virginia Stephen. The group includes the artist Duncan Grant, biographer Lytton Strachey, and the art critics Clive Bell and Roger Fry.The German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein has his 'annus mirabilis', publishing groundbreaking papers on the nature of light and motion, including his relation of mass and energy in the equation e = mc2.
International
Massacre of more than 100 workers at a peaceful demonstration by troops in St Petersburg becomes known as 'Bloody Sunday'. The event sparks the 1905 Revolution, with uprisings and peasant revolts in other cities, leading the Tsar to issue the October Manifesto, pledging moderate reform, including the establishment of an elected 'duma' (government), which only partially appeases imperial opposition. Still fighting Japan, the internal agitation weakens the imperial army.Tell us more back to top
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