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Sir William Petty

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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A Founder Fellow of the Royal Society. Petty overcame a humble origin to rise rapidly following the Parliamentary victory in the civil war. He was elected Professor of Anatomy at Oxford (1651), and made a fortune following Cromwell's conquest of Ireland by surveying the land to be confiscated and distributed amongst the victors. He retained his positions at the Restoration and impressed Charles II with his design for a double-keeled ship. He is principally remembered for carrying out the first serious attempt at a scientific and mathematical study of social statistics in Political Arithmetic (1690).

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Sir William Petty

Date

c.1649–1650

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 124.5 x W 100.3 cm

Accession number

2924

Acquisition method

Purchased, 1937

Work type

Painting

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National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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