Portrait mezzotint print from engraving, copy of oil painting of Harrison John 1734-1797

Mezzotint, engraving, portrait of Harrison John, surgeon of Derby, engraved by Smith John Raphael (1751-1812) from an oil by Wright Joseph of Derby (1734-1797), listed in the artist's account notebook ca.1781 as "Dr Harrison #12.12.0", sitter formerly identified as Harrison John, chronometer maker, 1693-1776; now identified as a surgeon of Derby, died 1787. Portrait, platemark 38x27.6cm, [2nd state?] HL to L, looking to front; oval frame; quotation from Plautus 'Non invenies alterum Lepidiorem ad omnes res, nec qui amicus amico sit magis'.; Chaloner Smith, 1272.74; Wright of Derby / J. Egerton. Tate Gallery, 1990, P23. Woodcroft Collection.

This portrait formed part of the Bennet Woodcroft Bequest, which was among the founding collections of the Science Museum. Woodcroft had developed a 'National Gallery of Portraits of Inventors, Discoverers and Introducers of the Useful Arts’ combining gifts, loans and purchases of portraits, while acting as the first curator of the Patent Museum.