John Ray

1 portrait by George Daniel Gaab

John Ray, by George Daniel Gaab, mid 18th century -NPG 6077 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

John Ray

attributed to George Daniel Gaab
mid 18th century
2 in. x 1 5/8 in. (53 mm x 43 mm) oval
NPG 6077

Inscriptionback to top

Reverse inscribed: Iohn Ray/F.R.S/nat,1627/obt,1704 [i.e. OS; Ray d. 17 January 1705].

This portraitback to top

Traditionally attributed to G. D. Gaab of Augsburg, who exhibited at the Free Society of Artists, London, in 1783 and by whom there is one signed medal of Christopher Wren; [1] he is said to have been much employed by the antiquary Thomas Hollis (1720-74). [2]
Other examples show on the reverse a monumental urn below a weeping willow, inscribed: AET.77. with, in the exergue: INO.RAY.FRS.NAT.1627.OBT.1704.
A Wedgwood medallion of c.1781-90 copied this medal, but is slightly reduced along the lower edge. [3]

Footnotesback to top

1) A third medal attributed to Gaab shows Margaret, Countess of Richmond (E. Hawkins, Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland, to the death of George II, ed. A. W. Franks & H. A. Grueber, 1885, I, p 23, no.1).
2) For Gaab, see L. Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, 1904, II, p 185, & VII, p 334; Dictionary of Art, ed. J. Turner, 1996, vol. XXII, p 185.
3) R. Reilly & G. Savage, Wedgwood, the Portrait Medallions, 1973, p 288; R. Reilly, Wedgwood, II, 1989, p 711; an example from Nottingham Art Gallery exhibited Wedgwood, NPG, 1973, no.82.

Referenceback to top

Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, 1910, cxxi/8.

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 295.

Simon & Saywell (eds.) 2004
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, NPG, ed. J. Simon & D. Saywell, 2004, p 514.

Provenanceback to top

Glendining’s, 22 November 1989, lot 51 (one of a set of six); A. H. Baldwin, from whom purchased 1990.


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.

View all known portraits for John Ray