John Ray

This bust of the naturalist John Ray appears to be taken from the marble original by Roubiliac, one of a series of portraits of distinguished members of Trinity College, Cambridge. It appears to be cast from the marble itself and is not an eighteenth century multiple.

Ray (1627-1705) published important works on plants, animals and natural theology and is sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history.

Louis François Roubiliac (1702-1762) was one of the leading sculptors of his generation, and his busts and monuments are among the most important produced in Britain in the first half of the 18th century. He was born in Lyons, and probably trained in Dresden. He was later in Paris, but from 1730 he was based in London, apart from a brief visit to Rome in 1752.