The lost portrait of Robert Hooke?

Abstract

Summary This letter considers the ‘Portrait of a Mathematician’ attributed to Mary Beale in the 1680s as a likely candidate for a portrait of Robert Hooke made during his lifetime. It closely matches the physical descriptions of Hooke made by his biographers who knew him, Richard Waller (d. 1715) and John Aubrey (1626–1697). The portrait contains a remarkable diagram, as well as its mechanical analogue, demonstrating the elliptical orbit of a body under constant force similar to an unpublished, unfinished 1685 manuscript by Hooke. It also contains a landscape, which is likely to be Lowther Castle and its associated church. Hooke provided designs for the Lowther castle church renovations completed in 1686. The portraitist, Mary Beale, knew Hooke and was very familiar with the Lowther family, who commissioned 30 portraits from her. The diagram and armillary sphere in the portrait establish Hooke's contribution to the theory of gravity. Their presence may have been one of the reasons the portrait was not purchased and kept by the Royal Society. It might have diminished the legacy of Isaac Newton.

Comments on Dr Whittaker's letter and the article

“…In his Letter regarding my Paper, Dr Whittaker suggests that the sitter in Mary Beale's ‘Portrait of a Mathematician’ is Isaac Barrow 1,2 . Indeed there is a portrait of Isaac Barrow by Mary Beale and it can be found in Trinity College, Cambridge, Figure 1.…”

Has a 'lost' portrait of the polymath Robert Hooke (1635-1703) been in London's National Portrait Gallery since 1872?

“…[11] Professor Lawrence Griffing's more recent claim that Mary Beale's Portrait of a Mathematician, c1680 (Figure One), depicts Robert Hooke is similarly unconvincing. [12] [13] Following a detailed examination of Hooke's contribution to microscopy he indicated that his attribution is based upon two major elements: that the diagram in the painting was from Hooke's 1685 unpublished paper The Laws of Circular Motion; and that the sitter resembles the contemporary descriptions of Hooke.…”

Histology as a paradigm for a science‐based learning experience: Visits by histology education spirits of past, present, and future

“…The pantheon of early histology pioneers. From left to right are: A painting entitled “Portrait of a Mathematician” attributed to Mary Beale that is believed to depict Robert Hooke 5 ; a painting of Marcello Malpighi by Carlo Cignani; a painting of Marie‐François Xavier Bichat by Pierre‐Maximilien Delafontaine; and an engraving of August Franz Josef Karl Mayer by Adolf Hohnek.…”