This is a black and white print of a section of a painting of the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal 1765-1811. The original was painted by L. F. G. van der Puyl in 1785 and presented to the Royal Society in 1785 where it remains to this day. The full picture shows Nevil Maskelyne in clerical dress and a short white wig, seated and facing slightly to his left, by a window, with a view of the Observatory in the background. He has his left arm resting on a book (possibly Maskelyne's Observations from Greenwich) and in his hand is a ray diagram labelled 'PRISMATIC MICROSCOPE'. The section in this print however shows only his head and shoulders. The Observatory, book and diagram cannot be seen.