The following is the translation of the auction catalogue description of the painting - the identification with William Stukeley seems to rest only on the fact that he is holding a sprig of oak leaves : English school 1700s Portrait of William Stukeley in light blue velvet coat, neck, gizzard and vitpudrad wig cradling in his left hand an oak twig - midjebild Wear probably monogram signature. Oil on canvas, 84 x 66 cm. Probably painted around 1739-40 English School, 18th Century. Oil on canvas. The portrait represents probably the English archivist William Stukeley (1687-1765), who made groundbreaking archaeological excavations at Stonehenge and Avebury. He was also Medicine Dr, priest, ancient scholars and writers. Stukeley in 1718 became a member of the Royal Society. During his work as a physician, he developed a religious interest in the ancient mysteries, which resulted in the membership of a speculative frimurarorder 1720. 1717 had a Druid Order arisen in England, and in 1722 took Wiliam Stukeley post of supreme leader. He took the name Chyndonax and became known to his friends as "The archdruid". In the 1730s, he had concluded that Stonehenge was the work of the ancient druids something expressed by John Aubrey in the 1720s. In his book from 1740 Stukeley arguing that it was the Druids who built Stonehenge. The Celtic druids (from dru meaning oak) used oak leaves in sacrificial ceremonies and ate acorns before they predicted the future. William Stuckeley is depicted with a wreath of oak leaves on three occasions. First time on a drawing from 1725, the second time in 1740 on the cover of the book about Stonehenge and the third time in 1741 on a portrait medal in the Brittish Museum's collections. William Stukeley is depicted on the medal at the age of 54 with a wreath of oak leaves on one side and Stonehenge on the other side. There is thus a direct link between the symbolism of using oak leaf sprig and William Stukeley. There are also many links to the Druids by William Stukeleys leading position in the Druid Order, his studies of the ancient Druids and the fact that he took a druid name. 1718 was William Stukeley first secretary of "the Society of Antiquaries." William Stukeley is also referred to as 'the father of British field archeology'. Stukeley was a friend of Isaac Newton and published notes of his life. William Stukeley was the first to write about how Isaac Newton got the idea of ​​gravity by studying the falling apple.