The most learned body of Englishmen

Group portrait of Fellows and guests attending a Royal Society conversazione, or soirée, at Burlington House, London on the evening of 17 May 1905. The location is the Principal Library, with an exhibit of microscope preparations being viewed by Fellows in the foreground.

Full page illustration in The Sphere, 27 May 1905, p.191. Headed: 'THE MOST LEARNED BODY OF ENGLISHMEN. THE ROYAL SOCIETY'S CONVERSAZIONE'. Inscribed below 'DRAWN BY F. MATANIA'. Captioned below: 'The first of two annual conversaziones held by the Royal Society, and confined to men only, took place in Burlington House on May 17, the guests being received by the president Sir William Huggins. The exhibits were entirely scientific. The most striking demonstration of the electric order was Sir Oliver Lodge's elaborate arrangements to show the use of electric valves for the production of high-tension continuous current. Mr Percival Landon's Lhassa pictures were shown, also photographs taken by the National Antarctic Expedition. Every side of scientific enquiry was illustrated.'

Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) Italian illustrator.