Samuel Clarke

This portraitback to top

The open book shows running heads: NEWTONI and NEWTONI OPUSC and on the shelves behind may be read CAESAR and NEWTONI PRINCIPIA, probably referring to Clarke’s Latin translation of Newton’s Opticks 1706 and his edition of Caesar’s Commentaries 1712.
The execution seems not to warrant an attribution to Gibson or Jervas who are known to have painted Clarke at this time.

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 72.

Sir George Scharf’s Trustees’ Sketch Books, 13:77.

Provenanceback to top

Anon. sale, Christie’s, 4 July 1868, lot 131 as by Hogarth; purchased 1868.


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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