Graffiti
possibly Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Category
Architecture / Features & Decoration
Date
circa 1625 - circa 1725
Materials
Plaster
Place of origin
Lincolnshire
Order this imageCollection
Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire (Accredited Museum)
On show at
Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire, Midlands, National Trust
NT 427631
Caption
The young Isaac was known for bringing his ideas to life on walls as paper was so scarce. The walls of his school lodging room in Grantham were full of drawings made in charcoal. Although he didn't sign our wall drawings at Woolsthorpe we can feel Isaac drawing the objects and ideas relevant to his life; the church, a figure in clerical dress and a post windmill. In William Stukeley's memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton, a young Isaac was entranced by the progress of a new windmill being built. After studying the mechanism Isaac, who was known for his 'strange inventions and extraordinary inclinations for mechanics'designed his own version of the mill in wood. With amazing ingenuity he used a mouse to power the mill instead of the wind. The downside of his 'mouse miller' was the mouse stole the corn as compensation for his efforts!
Summary
Graffiti markings scratched into the plaster of the wall, a drawing of a post windmill.
Makers and roles
possibly Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), creator