Portrait of Jesse Ramsden Three quarter length, left profile portrait of Jesse Ramsden, seated by and before machinery. Seated in a red upholstered chair. Ramsden wears a black jacket trimmed with grey fur at the collar signifying service he did to the Emperor of Russia, Ramsden dislike the inclusion of this detail saying he had never worn such a garment. The jacket is worn over a white shirt and black knee-breeches, the tops of his grey stockings just visible. Ramsden holds callipers in his right hand and a metal straight-edge or ruler in his left. Behind is the astronomical circle of Palermo Observatory (telescope mounted on an azimuth circle); before the sitter is a dividing engine of Ramsden’s design. [Discussed in Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800) London’s leading scientific instrument maker, Anita McConnell (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007), pp.39-51]. It is believed to be the only likeness taken of Jesse Ramsden in his lifetime. c.1772