Unknown man, formerly known as Sir Isaac Newton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Unknown man, formerly known as Sir Isaac Newton

by Unknown artist
oil on canvas, circa 1670-1680
39 1/2 in. x 32 in. (1003 mm x 813 mm)
Bequeathed by Charles Pickering Clarke, 1909
Primary Collection
NPG 1570

Sitterback to top

  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Mathematical scientist. Sitter associated with 46 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1670back to top

Current affairs

Charles II mistress, Barbara Villiers, is created Duchess of Cleveland and granted Nonsuch Palace including its sizeable grounds.
Actress and royal mistress, Nell Gwyn, gives birth to Charles II's son, Charles, who would later become, Duke of St. Albans.

Art and science

Tragicomedy, The Forc'd Marriage, by Aphra Behn, staged by the Duke's Company, starts Behn's career as a professional writer. The writer may have been a royalist spy towards the end of the interregnum.
Poet laureate, John Dryden, is made historiographer royal, a post he would hold for nearly 20 years.

International

Terms of a secret treaty between Charles II and Louis XIV are brought by Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans during a visit to Dover; upon England supplying the majority of military power for a war against Holland and Charles's official conversion to Catholicism, France would assist financially.

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Beverley Brown

19 February 2021, 13:25

I strongly suspect this sitter is Edmond Halley FRS (1656–1742) — see the Royal Society’s image number RS.9284 for comparison. That portrait was painted around 1690 when Halley was in his early 30s and features that compare closely with the NPG portrait include hair colour and style, an oval face, a short neck, and a long down-turned nose.

The NPG website suggests a probable date of 1670–80 for this portrait and that fits with Halley’s age (he turned 20 in 1676) and with the event that I suspect prompted its being painted, namely, his trip to St Helena to map the southern stars in about November 1676–March 1678. He was feted in scientific circles on his return and published a Catalogue of the Southern Stars and a planisphere shortly afterwards. The sitter holds a globe and compass, so the portrait may have been intended as a frontispiece for Halley’s catalogue (I’m not aware of an edition that includes any portrait, but I haven’t researched this) or perhaps simply to commemorate his expedition. The scene behind the curtain is difficult to make out but appears to show the sea and possibly a building in the foreground, which might offer a further clue.

That the portrait was previously regarded as being of Newton makes the Halley identification even more likely as they were closely associated, both socially and professionally, during their lives and by reputation afterwards. Halley edited and published the first edition of Newton’s Principia and his correct prediction of the posthumous return of ‘his’ comet using Newtonian physics demonstrated the validity of Newton’s theories.

I studied Halley for several years and began a PhD on him a few years ago, but had to give it up after developing a chronic illness. I spotted this portrait around that time (2018) and had hoped to look into it further, but that hasn’t been possible. I wrote about Halley’s trip to St Helena on my blog, Halley’s Log, a few years ago (see ‘Return to St Helena’). I have an idea about the possible artist, although that’s only speculation at present.

I should very much like to arrange to view the portrait when the gallery reopens.