Portrait of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Godfrey Kneller's 1689 portrait of Isaac Newton, painted when the scientist was forty-six and had just published his revolutionary Principia Mathematica, is one of the most important portraits in the history of science. Newton sat for the portrait at the request of his friend and supporter John Covel, Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. The painting captures Newton during the brief period between his scientific triumph and his later career as Warden of the Royal Mint and President of the Royal Society.

Kneller presents Newton in scholarly undress, his open shirt and loosened hair suggesting intellectual intensity rather than social formality. The direct, penetrating gaze and the warm, focused lighting on the face create an image of concentrated intelligence that has become iconic in scientific portraiture.