Portraits of Dr. William HarveyRoyal Society of Medicine (Great Britain)
Science
Portraits of Dr. William Harvey
Royal Society of Medicine (Great Britain)
Harvey, William, 1578-1657 -- Portraits
Head and shoulders, to the right, nearly full face; wearing a dark gown
with wide falling collar and tassels loosely tied. The face is
thoughtful, with a full moustache and pointed beard. Head covered with a
skull-cap allowing the hair to escape below it and exposing a wide brow.
The canvas is signed very obscurely in the corner, just above the right
shoulder, ‘C. J. 1641’. It is attributed to Janssen and was bought by
Mr. Erich at a sale. It appears doubtful whether the portrait represents
Dr. William Harvey.
Size 30 in. by 25 in.
[Illustration: XVI]
XVII
MR. COBBOLD’S PORTRAIT OF HARVEY
A half-length, standing, full face. If this is a portrait of Harvey it
represents him as a much older man than many of the others, untrimmed,
dishevelled, and altogether different from the spruce, well-groomed man
who is usually represented.
The portrait is in the possession of John P. Cobbold, Esq., of
Holywells, Ipswich, who has very courteously supplied the photograph
from which the present collotype has been made. Dr. John Ogle (Harveian
Oration for 1880, p. 118) states--without mentioning his authority--that
the picture formerly belonged to the Earl of Winchilsea. It was copied
by the Rev. Richard Cobbold, a former member of Caius College,
Cambridge, and the copy was presented by him to the College in 1843.
[Illustration: XVII]
XVIII AND XIX
BUST IN HEMPSTEAD CHURCH
The bust is placed in the wall of the church at Hempstead and forms part
of a marble monument with a long inscription in Latin. The bust was
carefully examined some years ago by Mr. Thomas Woolner, R.A., who came
to the conclusion that it was made from a death-mask. He says of it,
‘The features presented by the bust are clearly those of a dead face.
The sculptor exhibits no knowledge of sculpture except when he was
copying what was directly before him. With the cast of the face for his
copy he has shown true artistic delineation, but all that he has been
obliged to add to make up the bust is of the worst possible quality. The
ears are placed entirely out of position, the large, redundant head of
hair is altogether out of character, imaginary, and badly executed, and
the drapery of the shoulders is simply despicable.’ The second collotype
[Pl. XIX] shows that the right ear is a mere hole pierced in the rough
marble block which forms the back of the head. No attempt is made to
supply the pinna.
[Illustration: XVIII]
[Illustration: XIX]
XX
A photograph of Harvey’s coffin taken about 1882. The coffin is shown
propped up in the vault of the Harvey chapel at Hempstead Church. It is
of lead with a rudely modelled face, a rope being twisted round the neck
and a plate upon the chest bearing the inscription
DOCTOR
WILLIAM + HARVEY +
DECEASED + THE + 3 +
OF + JUNE + 1657 +
AGED + 79 + YEARS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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