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List of artworks in the collection of the Royal Society of Chemistry


The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) owns a number of significant artworks in its venue at Burlington House in London. The collection is composed of busts, paintings and other artefacts that were mainly acquired between the mid-19th and early 21st Centuries (the Chemical Society was founded in 1841 and merged with others to become the RSC in 1980). Most of the acquisitions were donations from past members and staff, although a few were purchased directly by the Society.

Located along the corridor on the first floor of Burlington House, the bronze bust of Sir Humphry Davy was created by Ruby Levick and is a reproduction of an earlier sculpture by Miss Moore, donated to the Chemical Society by Rudolph Messell in 1900. At the Annual General Meeting of the Chemical Society of March 29, Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe (President of the Society), reported on the gift of this work:

We are indebted to several of our Fellows for additions to the artistic possessions of the Society. Dr. Debus has presented us with a striking bust of Sir Humphry Davy, a cast of one modelled during his lifetime by Miss Moore. In accordance with the donor’s wishes, this bust now appears in our Meeting Room. On the recommendation of Mr. Thomas Armstrong, C.B., formerly the Art Director of the Science and Art Department, who was much impressed with the artistic quality of Miss Moore’s work, this bust has been copied by Miss Levick, with certain adaptations taken from Sir Thomas Lawrence’s well-known portrait in the possession of the Royal Society, and has been reproduced in bronze. The reproduction, together with its pedestal, has been given by our colleague, Dr. Messel.

Sir Humphry Davy is best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine.

Ruby Levick was a Welsh sculptor and medallist who had many of her works exhibited at the Royal Academy.

The bronze bust of John Dalton, located along the corridor on the first floor, was also created by Ruby Levick and was donated to the Chemical Society in 1903 by its former President Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe, as also attested by the inscription engraved on the bust's base: "John Dalton presented by T.E. Thorpe CB. L.L.D. F.R.S. past President in commemoration of the centenary of the enunciation of the atomic theory".


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