Note on a further portrait of James Short, F. R. S

Abstract

The portrait of James Short (1710-1768, F.R.S. 1737) in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, was illustrated and discussed in a recent article in this journal (1). As a result of Turner’s paper another portrait of James Short has been found; these two likenesses together with the chalk and pencil drawing by the Earl of Buchan were shown side by side at the bicentenary exhibition ‘James Short and his Telescopes’ held at the Royal Scottish Museum in the summer of 1968 (2). The additional portrait, which is full size and more artistically competent, suggests that the Oxford Portrait is not the original but an eighteenth-century copy. The supposition that the artist who painted Short’s portrait was Benjamin Wilson (1721-1788, F.R.S. 1751) is confirmed.