Edward Jenner
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry







© National Portrait Gallery, London
- Buy a print
- Buy greetings card
- Use this image
- Share this
Edward Jenner
by James Northcote
oil on canvas, 1803
50 in. x 40 in. (1270 mm x 1016 mm)
Given by the sitter's friend, James Moore (later Carrick-Moore), 1859
Primary Collection
NPG 62
Sitterback to top
- Edward Jenner (1749-1823), Surgeon; discoverer of vaccination. Sitter in 11 portraits.
Artistback to top
- James Northcote (1746-1831), Painter; pupil and biographer of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Artist or producer associated with 103 portraits, Sitter associated with 23 portraits.
This portraitback to top
The background of this painting was not finished until after Jenner's death in 1823 when Northcote wrote: 'on a table in the picture I have introduced the bones and joints of a Cows hoof and in a glass case the Cows hoof injected, all which is to show what were his peculiar Studies'.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Audio Guide
- Smartify image discovery app
- Cooper, John, Visitor's Guide, 2000, p. 65
- Hackmann, W.D., Apples and Atoms: Portraits of Scientists from Newton to Rutherford, 1986, p. 38
- Hart-Davis, Adam, Chain Reactions, 2000, p. 85
- Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 149
- John Cooper, National Portrait Gallery Visitor's Guide, 2006, p. 65
- Ross, Josephine, Jane Austen and her World, 2017, p. 45
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 336
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 280
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1803back to top
Current affairs
The Vice Society is formally established by John Reeves and his associates to campaign against blasphemy and immorality, particularly that perpetrated by Thomas Paine and the Edinburgh Review.Art and science
Erasmus Darwin's Temple of Nature published posthumously. A scientific treaty in the form of an elaborate couplet poem, its content anticipated some of the evolutionary ideas developed by his grandson, Charles Darwin, fifty years later.Construction of the Caledonian Canal begins.
International
War with France resumes, sparking new fears of a cross-channel invasion.United Irishman, Robert Emmett's attempted uprising in Dublin. Planned to coincide with Napoleon's expected invasion, it aimed to overthrow the English administration but ended in failure. Emmett is hanged along with several other conspirators.
Tell us more back to top
Can you tell us more about this portrait? Spotted an error, information that is missing (a sitter’s life dates, occupation or family relationships, or a date of portrait for example) or do you know anything that we don't know? If you have information to share please complete the form below.
If you require information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service. You can buy a print of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at £6 for unframed prints, £25 for framed prints. If you wish to license this image, please use our Rights and Images service.
Please note that we cannot provide valuations.
We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Thematic collections
Tell us more
Join & Support
Framed & unframed prints
Choose your favourite portrait from our Collection as a framed or unframed print for your home.