Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.B. (1769-1822), Professor of Mineralogy, 1808-1822
Sculptor: Chantrey, Francis Legatt
Posthumous portrait bust. White marble. The sitter is turned towards the front, looking three-quarters right. He is bare-headed with abundant curly hair and clean shaven. He wears a loose undergarment and a fur-lined wrap, which leaves the throat bare.
Given to the University by the Subscribers, 1824. Placed in the University Library on presentation. Transferred to Fitzwilliam Museum, 1865.
Method of acquisition: Transferred (1865) by Cambridge University Library
19th Century, Early#
Production date:
AD 1824
: Commissioned in 1823, completed in 1824
After Clarke's death in1822, the Council of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (of which Clarke had been a founding member) decided on 18 March the same year to commission a bust, which was to be paid for through subscriptions. In 1823, the commission was awarded to Chantrey. Chantrey completed the bust in 1824 and recorded a payment of £210 in cash in his account book on 16 July.
Clarke was also an avid collector of Greek marbles. In 1803, he presented his large collection to the University where it was kept at the University Library until 1865, when it was formally transferred to the Museum. This was the year after the Museum had purchased the large antiquities collection of Lt Col. Leake (M.1-1865). The Clarke collection further extended the scope of the Museum’s holdings and permitted a display that suggested some of the chief chronological and cultural developments of classical antiquity for the first time. Some of Clarke’s objects are on display in the Greek and Roman Gallery, including a beautiful fragmentary marble statue of Aphrodite, made in Asia Minor (Turkey) around 100 BCE.
Edward Daniel Clarke was a clergyman, traveller, chemist and mineralogist who was a key figure in the life of the University of Cambridge. In 1808, he became the first Professor of Mineralogy, in 1817 he was appointed University Librarian in 1817, and in 1819, he was one of the founders of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
Plinth
Height 13.4 cm
Bust
Height 64.7 cm
Carving : White marble, carved
Inscription present: signed and dated
Accession number: M.2-1865
Primary reference Number: 30927
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_2_1865
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.B. (1769-1822), Professor of Mineralogy, 1808-1822" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/30927 Accessed: 2024-12-22 18:03:20
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/30927
|title=Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.B. (1769-1822), Professor of Mineralogy, 1808-1822
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 18:03:20|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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