A fine unrecorded portrait of famous Cornish chemist and inventor Humphry Davy (1778-1829), drawn by Richard Dighton. Richard Dighton probably began his career by working with his father Robert Dighton (1754-1812) continuing his series of portraits of Oxford and Cambridge dons. Between 1817 and 1828, he also produced over a hundred portraits of well-known London characters, all of them full length portraits, in profile. Like his father, he also worked as a portrait painter. By 1828, Dighton had left London, and appears to have spent the next 20 years in Cheltenham and Worcester. The watercolour has pencilled on the back ‘Sir H. Davy. Chemical Philosopher Born 1779 - Dec 182[9]’ in a contemporary hand and is typical of full length profile so characteristic of Dighton’s work.