| Description | Group of figures showing guests and exhibits at the Royal Society’s conversazione, or soirée, at Burlington House, London, on the evening of 8 May 1889. The initial reception group shows the Royal Society’s Treasurer, Sir John Evans, shaking hands with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson. The Society’s President, Sir George Gabriel Stokes, faces between these two, with the Secretary, Michael Foster, facing to the left as viewed.
The series of group portraits and vignettes is listed as follows: 1. Reception by President and Officers in the Principal Library. 2. The “Tainter” graphophone…3. The Amorphophallus Campanulatus…4 and 5. Wreaths and plant-remains from the cemetery of Hawara, Egypt…6. Wreath composed of flowers of Gnaphallium Luteo-album…
Full page illustration from the Illustrated London News, 18 May 1889, p.617. Captioned below: ‘THE ROYAL SOCIETY ANNUAL CONVERSAZIONE AT BURLINGTON HOUSE: EXHIBITION OF SCIENTIFIC NOVELTIES.’
The accompanying article (p.618) describes guests and selected exhibits in greater detail.
Richard Taylor (active 1871-1908) British wood engraver. Thomas Walter Wilson (1851-1912) British illustrator. |