Oil painting William Stukeley FSA
Object number
LDSAL315
Artist/Designer/Maker
Collins, Richard - Artist
Production date
Early 18th century
c. 1726-29
c. 1726-29
Material
oil paint
canvas (paint canvas)
canvas (paint canvas)
Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 2340mm
Width: 1475mm
Width: 1475mm
Location
Burlington House - (on display)
Content description
William Stukeley (1687-1765) is depicted whole length standing in a garden, wearing a brown coat with gold frogging, white neckcloth, grey stockings and heavy black shoes. He is clean-shaven with a long grey wig and aged about forty. Scharf describes his coat as ‘dull crimson’ and his wig as brown. To the right is a gravel path with a stone basin of water in the foreground, on which is an Italianate baroque sculpture of sea nymphs, and another figure on a sea monster and dolphins. In the middle of the avenue is a classical style archway. To the left, on the base of a column, is a shield of the Stukeley arms with a double eagle displayed.
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. 62, no. 33.Illustration, p. 62.
Oil on canvas full-length portrait of William Stukeley FSA (1687-1765), in gilt frame.
William Stukeley (1687-1765) studied medicine at Cambridge and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1720. When living in Boston, Lincolnshire, between 1710 and 1717, he joined the Gentlemen’s Society of Spalding. He joined the Society of Antiquaries after moving to London in 1717; the following year he was elected the Society’s first Secretary and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1726 he moved to Grantham, where his brother lived, for the sake of his health. There, in December 1727, he married Frances Williamson (1696/7-1737) and three years later was ordained a clergyman with a living in Stamford. His second marriage in 1739, to Elizabeth Gale, the sister of the antiquaries Roger and Samuel Gale, gave him financial independence. In 1747 he was appointed Rector of St George-the-Martyr, Queen Square, London, where he spent the remainder of his life. Stukeley is mainly remembered now for his antiquarian excursions, especially to Avebury and Stonehenge, his thorough fieldwork, and for his interest in Druidism. These resulted in highly influential publications and his reputation as the father of British field archaeology.
The portrait is unsigned and undated but there is good evidence to suggest the identity of the artist and the approximate date of the painting. Stukeley’s commonplace book contains a list of portraits he possessed, including, towards the end: ‘my whole length picture, & my wifes, by Collins’. The Society’s portrait also appears as a separate full-length portrait in Stukeley’s sketch of the ‘best bedchamber at Barnhill, 1744’, which shows the painting hanging to the left of the door (comp. fig. 58.1). Stukeley’s diary for 24 October 1745 records ‘my whole length picture by Collins. My wifes.... by Ditto’ as being present in his best chamber.
The identity of the artist is complicated by the fact that two painters with the surname Collins were active in the area at the time - Michael and Richard - and Stukeley’s diary entries do not give a first name. Michael Collins was active in Stamford from c 1724 to the 1730s, but is not known to have painted portraits. The portrait of William Stukeley is painted in the style of Michael Dahl, with a pose similar to that in some of Dahl’s full length portraits. Richard Collins is said to have trained under Dahl and was elected a member of the Spalding Gentleman’s Society in 1727, a society of which Stukeley was also a member. He is known to have painted portraits of local families around 1726, and in 1743 Stukeley had three other portraits ‘by Collins’ in his hall. Richard Collins therefore is the more likely candidate.
The portrait is the Society’s largest painting, and its hanging caused some concern at Somerset House. In the winter of 1848-9, the Society was allowed by its neighbour, the Senate of London University, to hang it in its Refreshment Room, which was also used as an examination hall.
The portrait is unsigned and undated but there is good evidence to suggest the identity of the artist and the approximate date of the painting. Stukeley’s commonplace book contains a list of portraits he possessed, including, towards the end: ‘my whole length picture, & my wifes, by Collins’. The Society’s portrait also appears as a separate full-length portrait in Stukeley’s sketch of the ‘best bedchamber at Barnhill, 1744’, which shows the painting hanging to the left of the door (comp. fig. 58.1). Stukeley’s diary for 24 October 1745 records ‘my whole length picture by Collins. My wifes.... by Ditto’ as being present in his best chamber.
The identity of the artist is complicated by the fact that two painters with the surname Collins were active in the area at the time - Michael and Richard - and Stukeley’s diary entries do not give a first name. Michael Collins was active in Stamford from c 1724 to the 1730s, but is not known to have painted portraits. The portrait of William Stukeley is painted in the style of Michael Dahl, with a pose similar to that in some of Dahl’s full length portraits. Richard Collins is said to have trained under Dahl and was elected a member of the Spalding Gentleman’s Society in 1727, a society of which Stukeley was also a member. He is known to have painted portraits of local families around 1726, and in 1743 Stukeley had three other portraits ‘by Collins’ in his hall. Richard Collins therefore is the more likely candidate.
The portrait is the Society’s largest painting, and its hanging caused some concern at Somerset House. In the winter of 1848-9, the Society was allowed by its neighbour, the Senate of London University, to hang it in its Refreshment Room, which was also used as an examination hall.