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John Couch Adams

1 of 3 portraits of John Couch Adams

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Couch Adams

by Sir Hubert von Herkomer
oil on canvas, 1888
21 1/2 in. x 16 in. (547 mm x 407 mm)
Bequeathed by the sitter's widow, Eliza Couch Adams, 1919
Primary Collection
NPG 1842

On display at Lawrence House Museum, Launceston

Sitterback to top

  • John Couch Adams (1819-1892), Astronomer and mathematician. Sitter in 3 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914), Painter and illustrator. Artist or producer associated with 53 portraits, Sitter in 11 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Hackmann, W.D., Apples and Atoms: Portraits of Scientists from Newton to Rutherford, 1986, p. 58
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 4

Events of 1888back to top

Current affairs

Charles Ritchie, President of the Local Government Board, is responsible for the Local Government Act, a landmark piece of reform that establishes 62 elected county councils and over sixty county boroughs, with responsibility for roads, bridges, drains and general county business.
Five prostitutes are murdered, and their bodies mutilated, in Whitechapel, East London, by an unidentified killer who became known as 'Jack the Ripper'. The murderer was never discovered.

Art and science

Heinrich Hertz performs experiments validating James Clark Maxwell's model of electromagnetic radiation, a form of wireless energy transfer. His apparatus for generating electromagnetic waves is recognised as the first radio transmitter.
The term 'arts and crafts' is coined by the bookbinder T J Cobden-Sanderson with the establishment of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society.

International

Accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German throne. Wilhelm, the son of Kaiser Frederick III and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria, was the last Kaiser of Germany.
George Eastman invents the Kodak box camera, the first commercially successful box camera for roll film, with the slogan 'you press the button - we do the rest'.

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great-british

04 October 2016, 15:13

This portrait was bequeathed by the sitter's widow, Eliza Couch Adams (née Bruce), 1827-1919.