Dr Samuel Clarke (1675 - 1729).
Portrait by Charles Jervas (1675 - 1739).
c. 1729/30.
NB Portrait bust of Isaac Newton right hand background.
Royal Collection - possibly painted for Queen Caroline.
Dr Samuel Clarke is known today as a footnote to Pope’s line ‘Nor in a hermitage set Dr. Clark’ (‘Epistle to Lord Burlington’, l 78), which criticised Queen Caroline for including Clarke in the company of Newton and others in her Hermitage at Richmond. In fact Clarke was a distinguished theologian, scholar, philosopher and natural scientist, who studied with Newton and corresponded with Leibniz. In his theological works he attempted to defend Anglican doctrine in a rationalist manner, making him an influential enlightenment thinker. Queen Anne made Clarke one of her chaplains in Ordinary and in 1709 he was made rector of St James’s Piccadilly. Queen Caroline’s admiration for him is demonstrated by the Hermitage and by this painting, with its eulogistic inscription written by Benjamin Hoadley (1676-1761), (see below) which was hung at Kensington Palace. Clarke is shown with a bust of Newton, below which are arranged four books: Bacon’s ‘Essays’, Boyle’s ‘Lectures’, Newton’s ‘Principia’ and ‘Optica’ (presumably Clarke’s Latin translation of his ‘Opticks’).
Text and image courtesy:
for an excellent brief biography of Clarke and his philosophies and his relationship with Isaac Newton see:
Clarke was offered the post of Master of the Mint after the death of Newton in 1727 but refused it.
Dr Samuel Clarke.
Mezzotint.
John Simon.
after Thomas Gibson.
Early 18th Century.
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
Dr Samuel Clarke.
John Simon.
Mezzotint Early Eighteenth Century.
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
.......................................
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
.........................
Dr Samuel Clarke.
Engraving by George Vertue after T Gibson.
(320 mm x 187 mm) paper size.
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
Dr Samuel Clarke.
Engraving (481 mm x 339 mm) paper size.
c. 1740.
Jacobus Houbraken
© National Portrait Gallery, London.
................................
Dr Samuel Clarke.
by
Supposedly by Jamé Verhych (sometimes Jamé Derhijck).
Lead Bust.
Beningbrough Hall.
National Portrait Gallery.
There is no mention of this sculptor on the Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors.... pub Yale 2009.
I suspect that the attribution came originally from an enterprising Antique dealer.
A brief internet search came up with a loose reference to the bust and Sidney J Block in the International Antiques yearbook pub. Studio Vista in 1970.
Sidney Jerome Block (1915 - 83) was an America antique dealer trading at 12 Hinde Street, London W1 from 1956 - 70.
.............................
© National Portrait Gallery, London
................................
Samuel Clarke.
by Guelphi.
The turned socle and inscribed name are later replacements of about 1830
When many of the busts in the Royal collection were given new socles.
_________________________________
Dr Benjamin Hoadly with a bust of Isaac Newton after Roubiliac.
William Hogarth c. 1738.
Oil on
canvas. 60.7 x 47.9 cms.
Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge. England.
Smart
sale, London, Foster & Son, 16 January 1850 (32), bt. White; William Benoni
White sale, Christie's, 24 May 1879 (200), bt. Cox; coll. Joseph Prior,
Cambridge (1834-1918); with Charles Fairfax Murray by 1902. Given in 1908 by
Fairfax Murray
No comments:
Post a Comment