A scientist, posed with his microscope, in a drawing room setting. Photograph by Elliott and Fry.

There is some resemblance to Edwin Lankester (1814-1874). "Lankester was a skilled microscopist, was joint editor of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science from 1852 to 1871, and was president of the Microscopical Society of London in 1859 and 1860 and of the Quekett Microscopical Club in 1865; in 1859 he published his immensely popular Half hours with the microscope. In the same year he was appointed examiner in botany for the teachers' qualification newly instituted by the Department of Science and Art."--Oxford dictionary of national biography