Brook Taylor. Etching by J. Ryland after J. Kirby.

A portrait statue of Brook Taylor, mathematician, wearing a hat and gown, holding a scroll in his right hand. On the plinth are carved his name and a book representing Taylor's 'Linear perspective: or, a new method of representing justly all manner of objects as they appear to the eye in all situations', London 1715 (though the diagram shown does not appear in the book). The statue is placed under a triumphal arch with a pediment, beyond which is a wall in which portrait busts of Euclid and Newton are shown in oval niches. Beyond is a picturesque rural landscape

"On 13 January 1715 [Brook Taylor] was elected secretary of the Royal Society after the death of Richard Waller. His book Linear perspective appeared later that year, written in formal mathematical style with axioms and theorems. Although the abstruse and concise nature of the text made it inaccessible to most artists, the work influenced later writers on the subject and holds a prominent place in the history of perspective. Not only did it contain contributions to the theory of inverse problems and direct construction, but it was the first to call attention to the importance of vanishing points and lines. Taylor published an expanded version, New principles of linear perspective, in 1719."--Oxford dictionary of national biography

[London] : [Joshua Kirby], [1768?]

1 print : etching, with line engraving ; platemark 29.8 x 46.6 cm

To Mrs Younge, daughter of Dr Brook Taylor; this plate as a tribute due to her fathers's merit, is dedicated by her unknown, but most respectfull, humble servant, Joshua Kirby. Kirby invt. et delt. I. Ryland sculpt. Bears number: plate LV

Wellcome Collection 3010818i