| Ref No | GSL/POR/19 |
| Title | 'Discussion on the Piltdown Skull' painting |
| Date | 1915 |
| Level | Item |
| Extent | 1 painting |
| Format | Portrait |
| Description | 'Discussion on the Piltdown Skull', 1915, oil painting by John Cooke of a group of scientists assembled at the Royal College of Surgeons, 11 August 1913.
Sitters are (from back left to front right): Frank Barlow, Dr Grafton Elliot Smith, Charles Dawson, Dr Arthur Smith Woodward, Arthur Underwood, Dr Arthur Keith (curator of the Hunterian, Royal College of Surgeons), William Pycraft, Edwin Ray Lankester.
The engraving hanging in the background is of a well-known portrait of Charles Darwin by the Hon John Maler Collier, son-in-law of Thomas Henry Huxley.
Size: 1830 x 2240mm |
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| Provenance | Produced by Cooke especially for exhibition at the Royal Academy, May 1915, where it was on sale for £750. Purchased for the Society by Charles Taylor Trechmann after the artist's decease for £25 in 1932. |
| Access Conditions | Access is by appointment only. Please contact the Archivist for further information. |
| Language | English |
| Related Material | See Minutes of Council Meetings, 23 March & 25 May 1932. Also letter from Arthur Smith Woodward informing Council of the availability of the painting, GSL/CM/9/2 (23 March 1932), scanned on server. |
| ArchNote | Sources: Spencer, F. 'The Piltdown Papers'. London: Natural History Museum Publications & Oxford University Press, 1990; additional information provided by the Royal Academy. Description by Caroline Lam. |
| CreatorName | Cooke | John | 1866-1932 | painter |
| Subject | Scientific frauds |
| Piltdown Man |
| Previous reference | P 19 |