The Hunterian Museum with the Statue of James Watt
Wallace Stewart
- Art Funded
- 1988
- Dimensions
- 54 x 46 cm
- Vendor
- Fine Art Society
This painting represents the interior of William Stark's demolished Hunterian Museum, named after Dr William Hunter (1718-83) who bequeathed a wide range of material including works of art to the University.
The Museum was opened in 1807 in Stark's fine Neo-classical temple. The present Hunterian Museum contains the statue of Watt by Chantrey, the Newcomen Engine as modified by Watt and the early 19th-century chairs to be seen in the picture. This is also a highly interesting genre painting in representing two artisans admiring Chantrey's statue and studying the origin of Watt's most significant invention.
Provenance
Fine Art Society.