Sir Isaac Newton. Mezzotint by J. MacArdell, 1760, after E. Seeman, 1726.

"The prints which were engraved at the expense of Mr Hollis and presented in setts to his friends were of Lieutenant General Edmund Ludlow; John Milton the boy; the same at 21 years of age; … Dr John Wallis: all by Cipriani. Sir Isaac Newton scraped by McArdell."--Blackburne, loc. cit.

The cap of liberty etched at the foot is a mark of association with Thomas Hollis, who had commissioned the print (Blackburne, loc. cit.). Hollis was a republican and promotor of civil liberties

1760

1 print : mezzotint

Select images of this work were taken by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum: WT/D/1/20/1/53/36

Sir Isaac Newton drawn and scraped MDCCLX by lames Macardel from an original portrait painted by Enoch Seeman now in the possession of Thomas Hollis F.R. and A. SS. ... Lettering continues with quotation from Voltaire: "Les Italiens ces peuples ingénieux ont craint de penser, les Français n'ont osé penser qu'à demie, et les Anglais qui ont volé iusqu'au ciel parce qu'on ne leur a point coupé les ailes, sont devenus les précepteurs des nations. Nous leur devons tout, depuis les lois primitives de la gravitation, depuis le calcul de l’infini, et la connaissance précise de la lumière, si vainement combattues, jusqu'à la nouvelle charue et à l’insertion de la petite vérole, combattues encore." Ode sur la mort de Madame de Bareith avec une lettre par Mons. de Voltaire.

[Chaloner Smith's state I, before retouching and addition of coat button].

Francis Blackburne, Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, vol 2, London: J. Nicholls, 1780, p. 502

John Chaloner Smith, British mezzotinto portraits, vol. 2, London 1878, p. 885 ("138. Sir Isaac Newton. Seeman. Short H. L., directed towards right, facing towards and looking to front, long white hair, plain coat, cravat with long fall. Under, on grounded space, Sir Isaac Newton drawn and scraped MDCCLX by lames Macardel from an original portrait painted by Enoch Seeman now in the possession of Thomas Hollis F.R. and A. SS. Les Italiens ces peuples ingénieux — encore. Ode sur la mort de Madame de Bareith avec une lettre par Mons. de Voltaire. At bottom a cap. … I. As described. II. Retouched, ground lighter, button seen on coat. See page 401. The cap is a symbol of the republican ideas of Mr. Holles.")

R. Burgess, Portraits of doctors & scientists in the Wellcome Institute, London 1973, no. 2140.35

M. Keynes, The iconography of Sir Isaac Newton to 1800, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2005, no. XLIX-1, p. 59

Wellcome Collection 7410i