Oil painting Humphery Wanley
Object number
LDSAL309
Artist/Designer/Maker
Hill, Thomas - Artist
Production date
1711
Material
oil paint
canvas (paint canvas)
canvas (paint canvas)
Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 1220mm
Width: 1020mm
Width: 1020mm
Location
Burlington House - (on display)
Object history note
PROVENANCE: painted in 1711 for Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, and bought by Vertue for £1 17s 0d at Mr Cock’s sale of the Harleian Collection, 8 March 1742, lot 30. It was presented by Vertue to the Society in 1755, together with the portrait of Edward Harley, 2nd earl of Oxford.
Content description
Wanley is depicted three-quarter length, standing behind a lectern, wearing a slate-coloured velvet coat with yellow frogging, brown cuffs and a black cap with a gilt tassel. He has a pale clean-shaven face and dark eyes. He holds a large book open at a page with cruciform text in Greek from St Matthew VI, verses 19−20: ‘Lay not up for yourself treasure upon earth’.
Inscriptions
Inscription content
MR. WANLEY
Inscriber
Hill, Thomas
Inscriber role/association
Artist
Inscription content
Humy. Wanley, son of Nathl of Coventry born 21st of March 1671/2. Thomas Hill pinx 18th of Decr, 1711
References
Reference (free text)
David Gaimster, Sarah McCarthy, and Bernard Nurse, eds., Making History, Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2007), p. 56, no. 27.Illustration, p. 56.
Reference (free text)
Susan Pearce, ed., Visions of Antiquity: The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1707-2007 (London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 2007), p. 34, fig. 15.
Oil on canvas portrait of Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726) in Sunderland-style carved frame.
Humfrey Wanley (1672−1726) was a pioneer in the study of palaeography and Anglo-Saxon, and the chief agent in the formation of the Harleian Library, which contained one of the finest manuscript collections ever assembled. From about 1708 until his death he was librarian and secretary to Robert Harley, 1st earl of Oxford, and his son Edward, 2nd earl. His most enduring monuments are his catalogues of Anglo-Saxon and Harleian manuscripts. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1706 and was one of the three founding members of the Society of Antiquaries, taking the first minutes in 1707.
Wanley is shown holding an open copy of St Matthew’s Gospel, which Edward Harley bought with other manuscripts from Dr John Covel in 1716 and is one of the greatest of the Harleian treasures, now in the British Library. Because the page shown is on the right, Simon Keynes argues that Wanley is shown holding his own Book of Specimens in which he had copied this page between 1697 and 1699.
Wanley is shown holding an open copy of St Matthew’s Gospel, which Edward Harley bought with other manuscripts from Dr John Covel in 1716 and is one of the greatest of the Harleian treasures, now in the British Library. Because the page shown is on the right, Simon Keynes argues that Wanley is shown holding his own Book of Specimens in which he had copied this page between 1697 and 1699.