Search Results | Caltech Archives

Title: Filleul/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Line engraving by Louis Jacques Cathelin (1739-1804) after a ca. 1778 oil painting by Mme. Anne Rosalie Filleul (1752-1794). Shows Franklin dressed in a fur-trimmed dressing gown, shirt open at the collar, body slightly to the left and head at a three-quarter right profile, right hand extended over a map of Philadelphia, found on table along with spectacles.

Title: Portrait of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1586
Description: Engraved portrait of Danish observational astronomer Brahe, showing Brahe age 40, dated 1586. Brahe’s records were used by Kepler to describe the orbits of planets around the sun and disprove the Ptolemaic theory. Engraving by Jacob de Gheyn (1565-1629). In the enrgraving, one can see surrounding Brahe--who was of Danish nobility--the coats of arms of his ancestors. [Note: This engraving was used in Brahe’s ASTRONOMIAE INSTAURATAE MECHANICA.]

Title: Chamberlin-Lodge/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Three-quarter left profile of Franklin. Engraving by John Lodge (d. 1796), Franklin image after a 1762 painting by Mason Chamberlin. Printed by J. Almon, London, April 21, 1777.

Title: Portrait of Joseph Priestley’s son, William
Format: photograph: negative
Date: 1792
Description: Political cartoon entitled, “Monsieur Francois introduces Master Pr***tly to the National Assembly,” drawn by James Sayers (1748-1823), depicts Priestley’s son William as a puppet before the French National Assembly. Description of cartoon: “Dr. Priestley’s son introduced to the National Assembly by Monsieur Francois de Neufchatel, who holds him up by a pair of leading strings, standing in a Tub instead of a Tribune and announcing to the Assembly thro’ a Trumpet the good news of an Englishman having become a Citizen of France. The Young Englishman having brought with him a bottle of Phlogiston from Hackney College is administering it in the form of electric sparks to the National Assembly: who are drawn in the form of Asses, Owls, Hogs and Frogs; while the Ancients in the Gallery are applauding with their mouths wide open.” [from British Museum, Sayers Collection] Published by Thomas Cornell, June 18, 1792.

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. In this picture, the sly Namazu tries to beguile unwary children.

Title: Martin/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin seated at a table, wearing glasses and chin resting on thumb of right hand, reading a manuscript. Reproduction of Franklin signature below portrait. Engraving by Illman & Pilbrow after a 1766 original painting by David Martin (1737-1798) [note the ornately carved back of the chair].

Title: Hopwood/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraved three-quarter left profile of Franklin by R. James Hopwood (ca. 1752-1819) after an original in the possession of General Washington.

Title: SALTZBURGK
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1657
Description: Copperplate engraved print, hand colored. Folio from a Latin edition of Braun and Hogenberg’s atlas, Civitates Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of Cities of the World), published originally in Cologne between 1572 and 1618. Bird’s-eye view of Salzburg with river in foreground. Legend box, bottom right, reads: Recens et Accvratis-/sima Vrbis Salisbvr-/gensis Delineatio. Three human figures in contemporary dress in foreground. Verso has printed text, description of Salzburg, in Latin. Pencil note in donor’s hand: “Jansson 1657. Coloring probably not contemporary.” Note indicates the plate is from Jan Jansson’s reissue of the atlas in Amsterdam in 1657. Gift of Earnest C. Watson, 1952.

Title: Portrait of William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Photogravure after a photo portrait of Irish-Scottish mathematical physicist and engineer, Lord Kelvin as an older man. Dickinson, London. Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, ca 1910.

Title: Portrait of Ioannes Marcus Marci (1595-1667)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Engraved portrait of Czech doctor of philosophy and medicine Ioannes Marcus Marci (also known as Joannes Marcus Marci, and as Jan Marek Marci), who taught over thirty years at Prague’s Charles University. Marci was not only a personal physician to two emperors, but he studied epilepsy, the mechanics of colliding bodies, and the refraction of light. Credited as being one of the founders of spectroscopy, since 1977 the I. M. Marci Medal has been given annually for outstanding work in spectroscopy.

Title: Namazu-e (catfish print)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1855
Description: According to Japanese legend, earthquakes were caused by the movements of a monster catfish that lived under the island of Japan. Immediately following the great Ansei earthquake of October 2, 1855, woodblock prints called Namazu-e (“catfish pictures”) appeared in Edo (now Tokyo), the most affected area. These imaginative and sometimes brutal depictions served as a unique source of information and reassurance to the local population. Here the Namazu, who appears with a human body, has been ordered by the gods to rescue people from the earthquake rubble.

Title: Chappel/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin seated at a desk, holding Poor Richard’s Almanac in left hand. Engraving after an original painting by Chappel. Published by Johnson, Wilson, & Co., New York, 1873.

Title: Portrait of Wilbur Wright (1867-1912)
Format: photograph: print
Description: Photogravure reproduction of charcoal-sketched portrait of Wilbur Wright, which was done by famous sketch artist Leo Mielziner (1869-1935), and is signed and dated by the artist. The sketch was done during Wilbur Wright’s 1908 visit and participation at the Hunaudieres Race Course and Camp d’Auvours, near Le Mans. Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin, ca 1910.

Title: Chamberlin/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Franklin seated in chair, resting his left hand on desk, holding papers, and with a feather quill in right hand. An arrangement of rods and bells behind his chair; an electrical storm show through the window in background. Franklin’s signature reproduced below portrait. Engraving by S. Freeman, after a 1762 painting by Mason Chamberlin. Published by A. Fullarton & Co.

Title: Caffieri/Profile of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Right profile of Franklin, with a slightly forward inclination of the head. Engraving by Thomas Holloway, possibly after a 1777 bust of Franklin done by Jean Jacques Caffieri (1725-1792). Published by C. Forster, Feb. 1, 1791.

Title: Cochin/Portrait of Benjamin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Franklin in three-quarter view, showing the right side of his face, wearing a fur hat and spectacles. Franklin signature reproduced below portrait. Engraving by A. H. Richie after a drawing done in 1777 by Charles Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790)

Title: John Locke
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1804
Description: Part of a group portrait. Includes Isaac Barrow, Robert Boyle, Kenelm Digby, Edmund Halley, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Isaac Newton. Engraved by Thomas Milton (ca 1743-1827), from the design done by Robert Smirke (1752-1845), an English painter and renowned book illustrator [note: not to be confused with his son Sir Robert Smirke (1780-1867), who is best known for his work on London’s British Museum]. Published by Robert Bowyer (1758-1834), Historic Gallery, December 1, 1804.

Title: Duplessis/Portrait of Benajmin Franklin
Format: photograph: print
Description: Portrait of Franklin in three-quarter left profile, wearing a coat . Engraving by Charles Pye (1817?), after a 1778 pastel done by Joseph Siffred Duplessis (1751-1831). Published by Henry Colburn, London, Oct. 1, 1817.

Title: Vienna Austriae / Wien in Ostenreyk
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1657
Description: Copperplate engraved print, hand colored. Folio from a Latin edition of Braun and Hogenberg’s atlas, Civitates Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of Cities of the World), published originally in Cologne between 1572 and 1618. Bird’s-eye view of the city of Vienna with Danube in foreground. Includes central shield and legend boxes left and right at top. Verso has printed text, description of Vienna, in Latin. Pencil note in donor’s hand: “Jansson 1657. Coloring probably not contemporary.” Note indicates the plate is from Jan Jansson’s reissue of the atlas in Amsterdam in 1657. Gift of Earnest C. Watson, 1952.

Title: Portrait of John Wallis (1616-1703)
Format: photograph: print
Date: 1825
Description: “John Wallis, D. D. Savilian Professor of Geometry” after the original by the reknowned German/English baroque portrait painter Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) “in the Picture Gallery at Oxford.” Stipple engraving by Robert Cooper (died 1836), drawn by Derby. Portrait of English mathematician John Wallis pictured wearing his academic robe; famous for his contributions to algebra and analytical geometry. Published in London by Henry Colburn, May 1825.