Sir Rodney Sweetnam
Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/P 578
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object namePortraits, Oil paintings
TitleSir Rodney Sweetnam
DescriptionPortrait of Sir Rodney Sweetnam, by John Walton R.P., unsigned, 1998.
Half length, seated, to left. The sitter is placed before an open window, wearing the gown and badge of the President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the tie of Peterhouse College, Cambridge - his alma mater. To his left is the corner of the President's desk, while behind him is the regulator (a long-case clock) which stands in the corner of the President's Office at the College. Through the open window can be seen the facade of the College, as if seen from across the corner of Lincoln's Inn Fields. In the foreground of this view is a crooked sapling tied by rope to an upright stake. This is the 'Tree of Andry', named after the French surgeon Nicolas Andry de Bois-Regard (1658-1742). He used the symbol as part of the frontispiece to his book 'Orthopedia, or the art of correcting and preventing deformities in Children' (1741). Its inclusion reflects the sitter's professional career as an orthopaedic surgeon.
Sir Rodney Sweetnam was President of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1995 to 1998, succeeding Sir Norman Browse. He was in turn succeeded by Sir Barry Jackson (see related records).
Production date 1998
Artist
Walton, John, b 1925, artist, Radlett
Sitter/subject
presented
Related objectsRCSSC/P 553RCSSC/P 563
Physical Location
LocationOn public display in RCS England's London headquarters
Physical Information
Physical descriptionOil on board, 91cm by 70cm. In gilt wooden frame, unglazed, 108.5cm by 89cm.
SIR RODNEY SWEETNAM, KCVO, CBE. / President 1995 – 1998 / John Walton
