Scientific portraits and portraits for science
A conference exploring scientific portraiture, bringing together historians of art and historians of science.
This one-day event looked at portraits of scientists, portraits created for scientific study, and portrait collections in academic and learned organisations. What was the significance to scientists in having their images recorded and displayed for posterity? How have portraits been created, used and collected by scientists in the course of their work? How are issues of diversity and Empire reflected in portrait collections?
A series of talks and discussion sessions featured an interdisciplinary gathering of historians of art and historians of science. The conference explored themes of representation in scientific portraiture, and featured detailed studies of individual portraits, from formal works to caricatures. One focus was on depictions of underrepresented individuals or groups, and on how Empire and race have impacted the way portraits have been made and seen. Invited speakers from all career stages presented their new research.
For all enquiries, please contact library@royalsociety.org.
View the conference recording