Part 4

XII

ROYAL SOCIETY PORTRAIT

A half-figure directed to the left, three-quarter face, looking at the spectator, in dark close-fitting cloak with a row of closely-placed buttons in the centre, white collar (which meets at the throat and is cut square) without tassels, black skull-cap, which almost entirely covers the hair, except at the left side; grey moustache, slight grey hair on lower chin. Size about 30 in. by 25 in. It probably represents Harvey between fifty and sixty years of age.

This portrait is stated in C. R. Weed’s Descriptive Catalogue of the Portraits in the Possession of the Royal Society, 1860, p. 36, to be by De Reyn, but in the numerous engravings of it the painter is given as Janssen. It was presented to the Royal Society by the Rev. John Mapletoft, M.D. (1631-1721), who was elected F.R.S. February 10, 1675-6. The collotype is made from a steel engraving of the picture.

Jan de Reyn (1610-1678) was a pupil of Van Dyck, whom he accompanied to England and after whose death in 1641 he returned to his home at Dunkirk.

XIII

FAITHORNE’S BUST

A copy of the bust of Harvey by William Faithorne (the elder) (1616-1691). The bust, without the pedestal and allegorical figures, forms the frontispiece to the English edition of The Anatomical Exercitations concerning the Generation of Living Creatures, published during Harvey’s lifetime in 1653. The likeness is probably a good one, as Faithorne was personally known to Harvey and he was one of the most distinguished engravers and portrait painters of his time. It should therefore represent Harvey as he appeared at the age of 65 or 66 years.

XIV

THE KING’S WESTON PORTRAIT

This portrait is at King’s Weston House near Bristol in Gloucestershire, and is in the possession of P. Napier Miles, Esq., to whom the Historical Section offers its grateful thanks for the facilities he has offered for obtaining a successful photograph. Thanks are also given to Dr. J. A. Nixon of Clifton, who has spared himself no trouble to obtain the photograph from which the present collotype was made.

The picture is an oil-painting on canvas measuring 40 in. by 28 in. It is let into the wall on the right-hand side of the fireplace, with the light of the great west or north-west window falling full upon it. It is surrounded by a plaster moulding grained in imitation of a light wooden frame. The portrait is that of an old man--nearer 80 than 70--with a small oval face, hollow-cheeked and wide-browed. The face is deeply lined and the eyes sunken. The beard is pointed, the hair grey, scantier and more nearly white than in Janssen’s picture at the Royal College of Physicians. The whole expression is one of fatigue. He is sitting in a chair at a table, clothed in black and bare-headed. His gown is short-sleeved, without strings or buttons. The sleeves of a more shiny (velvet?) jacket or doublet show below the short sleeves of the gown. They end in a narrow white linen cuff, which is turned back to a depth of about half an inch. The gown, which is edged with fur, is open in front and shows the breast of a black velvet jacket, which is quite plain, without buttons or join in front. Round the neck is a soft white collar, smoothly turned down and not rumpled as in Janssen’s picture. The linen of the collar and cuffs is of delicate texture, as is shown by its transparency. Harvey is represented sitting in a chair at a table, with the right hand resting upon a book, in old calf binding without lettering, which stands on end with its back to the spectator. The hands are exquisitely painted, small and very life-like. It is almost possible to feel the difference between the grasp of the right hand, which holds the book, and that of the left, which lies negligently on the end of the arm of the chair. The face, which is turned three-quarters to the left, has very decided high lights on the forehead and left cheek. The table is on the left side of the picture, and the colour of the chair, table cover--which is naturally indented by the knee of the sitter--and book are all of a light brown. The chair resembles that in Janssen’s picture. It has become brown with age, but was perhaps originally pink. The background of the picture, which is without detail, is of a neutral brown tint, which lies between raw sienna and burnt umber, and is almost identical with the colour of the chair and table, which are thus rendered inconspicuous, though the figure is thereby thrown into relief. The canvas is labelled ‘Dr. Harvey’ in bold letters at the top right-hand corner. A copy in oils, 15 in. by 12 in., was made for Dr. Nixon and is signed ‘Frank Holmes, Clifton, 1913’.

Miss Russell, an aunt of Lord de Clifford, who formerly owned King’s Weston, writes: ‘The pictures in the Great Hall at King’s Weston near Bristol, formerly the seat of the Southwell family, were placed there by Mr. Edward Southwell, who died in 1755. They are all to be accounted family portraits except two hung together, one of Dr. William Harvey, the other of Sir Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham, and the connection of these two is easily accounted for. Sir Robert Southwell, the “Ned Southwell” of Swift’s letters (1635-1702), principal Secretary of State for Ireland under William III and five times President of the Royal Society from 1690, studied medicine at Oxford--whilst Harvey was at Merton College--and anatomy abroad. He married on 26th January, 1664, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden-Dering in Kent--a “very pretty woman” according to Pepys--whose mother was a daughter of Daniel Harvey, Dr. William Harvey’s brother. Elizabeth, another daughter of Daniel Harvey, married Heneage Finch. The two portraits therefore are those of Lady Southwell’s Grand-uncle and Uncle.’ The Rev. Richard Warner, in his Excursions from Bath, 1801, attributes the picture to Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), and as it is clearly in his earlier style it is modelled on the style of Van Dyck, to whom it has been attributed. Van Dyck, however, died in December, 1641, and Harvey was not so old or worn at this time.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

A half-length figure seated in a large arm-chair, directed to the right; three-quarter face, looking at the spectator; in dark velvet coat or cloak with closely arranged row of buttons in the centre; the coat or cloak with six rows of braided bands, cut square at the elbows. A lighter sleeve is shown with narrow white cuffs or wristbands. The right hand is resting on a pillar and holds a cap, which is upright; the left hand rests on the arm of the chair. The falling collar has no tassels. The eyes are small and dark, the complexion sallow, and the features worn; the hair, moustache, and chin-tuft are white. There is a general resemblance to Harvey, but the face is too round, and the hands are certainly not like the hands portrayed in the other pictures.

The canvas measures 38½ in. by 31 in. and is inscribed ‘Gulielmus (Magnus ille) Harveius’. It was purchased from the trustees of J. O. Else in January, 1859, and is partly reproduced in the facsimile issue of An Anatomical Dissertation upon the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals. Privately printed for G. Moreton, Canterbury, 1894.

XVI

PORTRAIT FROM THE ERICH GALLERIES

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.

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.

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.

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