This mezzotint was issued in 1722, a year after Edmond Halley (1656-1742) was named Astronomer Royal. The signatures at bottom read “T. Murray pinx. 1712” and “John Faber Fecit 1722” and “Sold by John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill.” The text identifies Halley as “Astronomus Regius et Geometriæ Professor Savilianus.”
This half-length portrait print is based on a full-length oil portrait done in 1712 by Thomas Murray, a painter from Scotland who enjoyed prominence and prosperity in England. Murray depicted Halley as the Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford, wearing a long wig, clerical bands (a symbol of ecclesiastical or academic profession) around his neck, and a fur vest. The mezzotint was done by John Faber Jr., an artist from The Hague who spent his working life in London. It was sold by John Bowles, a printmaker and dealer in London.
Ref: D. W. Hughes, “The Portraits of Edmond Halley,” Vistas in Astronomy 27 (1984): 55-62.
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