Portrait, of Thomas Hope

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This portrait of Thomas C. Hope (1766-1844) dates from around 1850. Probably painted by Sir John Watson Gordon, it is a copy of the original by Henry Raeburn, which is now lost.

The oil painting shows Hope holding the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia to which he was an important contributor, in revisions from 1801 onwards. A pharmacopoeia is a book of drugs and formulae which is intended to secure the legally enforceable uniformity and standardisation of remedies.

Hope was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1815 to 1820, and taught chemistry and medicine at Glasgow University from 1787 to 1795. He then taught chemistry at Edinburgh with the ailing Joseph Black who died in 1799. Hope continued to teach until 1843, when he resigned his chair at the age of 77.

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• Online ID: 000-100-104-278-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1981.92
• Date: Around 1850
  c. 1850
  
• Material: Portrait / man
  
• Dimensions: 50.00" x 40.00"
  
• What: Portrait / man
  
• Subject:
• Who: Raeburn
  Sir John Watson Gordon, Edinburgh (Artist)
  Thomas Hope (Subject of portrait)
  
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
  
• Event:
• Description: Portrait of Thomas Hope possibly by Sir John Watson Gordon, Edinburgh, c. 1850
  
• References:
  • Cowen, D. L. 'The Edinburgh Pharacopoeia' in Anderson, R. G. W. & Simpson, A. D. C., The Early Years of the Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, 1976, pp 25-45 
  • For T. C. Hope's teaching career, see Anderson, R. G. W., The Playfair Collection. Edinburgh: 1978, pp 35-45 
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