ABSTRACT
Founded in 1799, the Royal Institution came to possess a dual agenda to make scientific knowledge understandable to the public through lectures and to undertake scientific research. The history of its visual collections is integrally linked with this raison d'etre and the related history of the physical infrastructure. Twenty-five years after the Spencer portrait, William Pickersgill again placed himself in the position of artist/donor. The Chantrey sculpted bust was presented in 1901 by Charles Hofman in memory of his Grandson, Thomas Edward Harrison, who had then died in South Africa while in Service with the Imperial Yeomanry. Two hinge around the dynamic personalities of Michael Faraday and James Dewar both of whom formed vital friendships that bore visual fruits for the Royal Institution's halls and walls. The gift of the bust was to testify to the friendship between Faraday and James Walker, as well serving as a tribute to the subject himself.
