Nicholas Saunderson

1 portrait by Gerard Vandergucht

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Nicholas Saunderson

by Gerard Vandergucht, after John Vanderbank
line engraving, published 1740 (1718)
8 3/4 in. x 5 7/8 in. (223 mm x 148 mm) plate size; 10 1/8 in. x 7 1/4 in. (256 mm x 183 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D33974

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • John Vanderbank (1694-1739), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 99 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
  • Gerard Vandergucht (1696 or 1697-1776), Engraver and art dealer. Artist or producer associated with 29 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

Shown holding an armillary sphere, Saunderson was described by one of his students as a professor who had not the use of his own eyes but taught others to use theirs.

Portrait setback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1740back to top

Current affairs

The song Rule, Britannia! by Thomas Arne is performed for the first time at Cliveden, the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
A now discredited account by antiquarian William Stukely asserts that Stonehenge was built by druids.

Art and science

Samuel Richardson publishes the first two volumes of Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, the best-selling novel of the period.
Artists Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough both arrive in London. Reynolds is apprenticed to the leading portrait-painter Thomas Hudson, while Gainsborough begins his artistic training with the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Francois Gravelot.

International

Death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and the succession of his eldest daughter Maria Térèsa heralds the start of the War of the Austrian Succession. Britain, already fighting Spain (in the War of Jenkin's Ear), is drawn into the wider conflict as an ally of Austria until 1748.
Frederick II becomes King of Prussia.
Pope Benedict XIV succeeds Pope Clement XII as the 247th pope.


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