Yesterday, we examined several portraits of Isaac Newton, the famous mathematician who held the prestigious Lucasian Professorship at Cambridge. Today, our attention turns to Charles Babbage (1791–1871), a 19th-century successor to this prominent role.
Despite his wealthy background, there are no known pictures from Babbage’s early years. The first identifiable portraits emerge from 1833, when he was 42 and already serving as a Lucasian Professor. Among these is a stippled engraving created by John Linnell (1792–1863), a prominent English engraver and painter.
In addition, Richard Roffe produced another stippled engraving of Babbage in the same year, although details about Roffe are limited. An early painted portrait, currently in the National Trust’s collection, is devoid of a recognized artist and date.
In 1876, well-known British portrait artist Samuel Lawrence (1812–1884) painted Babbage for the National Portrait Gallery. Lawrence, acclaimed for his representations of the Victorian elite, also portrayed William Whewell, a friend and student of Babbage.
Babbage, a lover of technology, is extensively documented through photographs. A lithographic portrait from 1841 by D. Castellini, based on a drawing by Carlo Ernesto Liverati, is part of the Wellcome Collection. However, information about the artists remains obscure.
The rise of photography enabled numerous representations of Babbage. Notably, around 1850, French photographer Antoine François Jean Claudet captured a daguerreotype of him. Claudet was involved in Victorian scientific communities, working alongside Babbage on photographic projects during this period.
Moreover, the National Portrait Gallery has a daguerreotype of Ada Lovelace taken by Claudet, one of only two existing photographs of her, taken in either 1843 or 1850.
A photographic portrait depicting Babbage seated and facing the camera, imprinted “J M MACKIE PHOTO,” is conserved by the Royal Society. Inscribed by his nephew Benjamin Herschel Babbage, it was reproduced from a negative for the Statistical Society in 1864.
Another undated photograph shows an older Babbage, referred to as an English mathematician and mechanical innovator. The Illustrated London News published an obituary portrait of him, based on an 1860 image from the Fourth International Statistical Congress.
These images have been extensively utilized in writings about Babbage, ensuring that his notable likeness remains recognized and analyzed posthumously.