Gilbert (print designer)
F. Skill and William Walker (1791-1867) (after)
William Walker and George J. Zobel (c. 1810-1881) (engravers)
T. Brooker (printer)
The Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in the Year 1807-8
W. Walker & Son, London: June, 4, 1862
Hand-colored engraving
29 x 47 inches, overall
26 x 44 inches, plate mark
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Distinguished Men of Science
Major British Scholars of the Year 1807-08
Major British Scholars of the Year 1807-08
 |
 |
 |
  |
 |
Very large engraving depicting 51 of the leading British men in the field of science active 1807-08, assembled in the large sunlit library of the Royal Institution. A globe, folio stand, and an array of folio books in the foreground identify the men as members of the intellectual elite. James Watt, seated in the center, draws a diagram. The print was published concurrently with a book edited and published by William Walker, Memoirs of the Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in the Year 1807-08. A smaller fold-out version of the engraving appeared as the book's frontispiece, along with a one-page ad for the large version. Today, one of these prints is also in the collection of the National Library of Australia. The advertisement for the engraving describes it as follows:
This Great Historical Engraving represents, assembled at the Royal Institution, authentic Portraits of the following illustrious men: -- Watt, Rennie, Telford, Mylne, Jessop, Chapman, Murdock, the first to introduce gas into practical use; Rumford, Huddart, Boulton, Brunel, Watson, Bentham, Maudslay, Dalton, Cavendish, Sir Humphry Davy, Wollaston, Hatchet [sic], Henry, Allen, Howard, Smith, the father of English Geology; Crompton, inventor of the Spinning Mule; Cartwright, Tennant, Ronalds, the first to successfully pass an electric telegraph message through a long distance; Charles Earl Stanhope, Trevithick, Nasmyth, Miller of Dalswinton, and Symington, the inventors and constructors of the first practical Steam Boat; Professor Thomson, of Glasgow; Troughton, Donkin, Congreve, Herschel, Maskelyne, Baily, Frodsham, Leslie, Playfair, Rutherford, Dollond, Brown, the botanist; Gilbert and Banks, the Presidents of the Royal Society at that epoch of time; Captain Kater, celebrated for his pendulum experiments; Dr. Thomas Young, and Jenner the benefactor of mankind. Engraved in the best style of Stipple and Mezzotinto by Wm. Walker and George Zobel. From an original drawing in Chiaroscuro. Designed by Gilbert; drawn by J.F. Skill and W. Walker."
The facsimile signatures of all those present are represented in the lower margins: W. J. Fordham, Francis Baily [1774-1844, astronomer], John Playfair [1748-1819, mathematician, physicist and geologist], A. Rutherford, John Leslie, William Herschel [1738-1822, astronomer], Nevil Maskelyne [1732-1811, astronomer], P. Dollond, Thomas Young [1773-1829, physicist, physician and Egyptologist], Robert Brown [1773-1858, botanist and botanical explorer], Davies Gilbert [1767-1839, engineer], Sir Joseph Banks [1743-1820, naturalist], Edward Jenner [1749-1823, physician], Henry Kater, William Smith [1769-1839, geologist], H[enry] Cavendish [1731-1810, physicist and chemist], Edward Howard, William Henry, William Allen, William Hyde Wollaston [1766-1828, chemist and physicist], Charles Hatchett [1765-1847, chemist], Humphry Davy [1778-1829, chemist and physicist], John Dalton [1766-1844, physicist and chemist], Henry Maudslay [1771-1831, inventor], Mc J. Brunet, Matthew Boulton [1728-1809, industrialist], James Bentham, R. Watson, J. Huddart, James Watt [1736-1819, inventor], Thomas Jefford, Rumford [Count Benjamin Thompson Rumford, 1753-1814, physicist and chemist], William Murdock [engineer], John Rennie [1761-1821, civil engineer], W. Jessop, William Chapman, Robert Mylne [1733-1811, architect and civil engineer], William Congreve [rocket scientist], Thomas Thompson, Edward Troughton, Bryan Donkin, Samuel Crompton [1753-1827, inventor], Charles Tennant [chemist], William Symingtone, Edmund Cartwright [1743-1823, inventor], Francis Ronalds, Patrick Miller, Alexander Nasmyth [1758-1840, landscape and portrait painter], Joseph Bramah [1748-1814, inventor], Stanhope, R[ichard] Trevithick [1771-1833, engineer and inventor].
Full publication information: W. Walker & Son, 64 Margaret Street Cavendish Square, London: June, 4, 1862.
Pencil notation in lower right margin: "To his friend J. R. Squibb from Samuel A. Walker, Son of the Engraver, 1 January 1888."
References:
Biographies from 1upInfo.com. http://www.1upinfo.com/ (4 September 2003).
Walker, William Jr. Memoirs of the Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in the Years 1807-8. London: E. & F. Spon, 1864. p. 163. Online at Google Books. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hONHAAAAIAAJ (1 June 2010).
"William Walker." National Library of Australia Pictures Catalogue. http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10153931 (4 September 2003).