18th Century Portrait of William Harvey, MD: 17th Century Circulatory System Discoveries
An 18th century engraved portrait of William Harvey, MD by Jacobus Houbraken after a painting by Wilhem von Bemmel, from "The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain", published in London in 1739 by John & Paul Knapton. It depicts the portrait of Harvey in an ornamental oval draped by a curtain. He is turned to his left, in a thoughtful pose. He is wearing a dark coat over a dark shirt with a broad white collar and many buttons. Below the oval is a drawing of the human arterial system in the lower left, the rod of Asclepius with what appears to be a live snake and books lying in foreground on the right.
Creator: Jacobus Houbraken (1698 - 1780, Dutch)
Creation Year: 1739
Dimensions: Height: 15.75 in (40.01 cm) Width: 9.75 in (24.77 cm)
Medium: Engraving
Condition: See description below.
An 18th century engraved portrait of William Harvey, MD by Jacobus Houbraken after a painting by Wilhem von Bemmel, from "The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain", published in London in 1739 by John & Paul Knapton. It depicts the portrait of Harvey in an ornamental oval draped by a curtain. He is turned to his left, in a thoughtful pose. He is wearing a dark coat over a dark shirt with a broad white collar and many buttons. Below the oval is a drawing of the human arterial system in the lower left, the rod of Asclepius with what appears to be a live snake and books lying in foreground on the right.
Creator: Jacobus Houbraken (1698 - 1780, Dutch)
Creation Year: 1739
Dimensions: Height: 15.75 in (40.01 cm) Width: 9.75 in (24.77 cm)
Medium: Engraving
Condition: See description below.
An 18th century engraved portrait of William Harvey, MD by Jacobus Houbraken after a painting by Wilhem von Bemmel, from "The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain", published in London in 1739 by John & Paul Knapton. It depicts the portrait of Harvey in an ornamental oval draped by a curtain. He is turned to his left, in a thoughtful pose. He is wearing a dark coat over a dark shirt with a broad white collar and many buttons. Below the oval is a drawing of the human arterial system in the lower left, the rod of Asclepius with what appears to be a live snake and books lying in foreground on the right.
Creator: Jacobus Houbraken (1698 - 1780, Dutch)
Creation Year: 1739
Dimensions: Height: 15.75 in (40.01 cm) Width: 9.75 in (24.77 cm)
Medium: Engraving
Condition: See description below.
This beautifully inked engraving measures 15.75" in height and 9.75" in width with wide margins. There is a shallow elongated area of paper loss at the edge of the right margin. There are a few very faint spots in the wide upper margin and one in the lower left marginal corner. The print is otherwise in excellent condition.
The print is in the collection of multiple museums and institutions, including: The British Museum, The Library of Congress, The National Portrait Gallery, The Chicago Art Institute
William Harvey was an English physician, best known for his contributions to anatomy and physiology, and in particular for his studies of the circulatory system, which he published in 1616. He was the first physician to describe the properties of blood being pumped to the brain and the rest of the body by the heart. He was also the chief physician to both King James I (1566-1625) and King Charles I (1600-1649) and he built a library for the Royal College of Physicians.
Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780) was a Dutch engraver who devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture. He produced a published record of the lives of artists from the Dutch Golden Age. In many cases his portraits are the only likenesses left of these people. Houbraken He collaborated with the historian Thomas Birch and artist George Vertue, on the project entitled, "Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain", published in parts in London from 1743 to 1752. From 1752 to 1759 he worked with the historian Jan Wagenaar (1709–1773) on his 21 part "Vaderlandsche Historie", published by Isaac Tirion in Amsterdam.
