Sir Kenelm Digby

Sitterback to top

• Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), Naval commander, diplomat and scientist. Sitter associated with 24 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), Painter. Artist associated with 996 portraits, Sitter associated with 28 portraits.

This portraitback to top

A naval commander, diplomat and scientist, Digby was considered to be 'the most accomplished cavalier of his time', and was sent by Charles I to ask for the Pope's help in the Civil War. An early member of the Royal Society, he was renowned for his tall stories and for his 'sympathetic powder' which was said to cure wounds when applied to the weapon which had inflicted them. A friend of the French philosopher Descartes, his prolific writings include an attack on Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici. He is shown in this portrait wearing armour and holding the baton of military command.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Cooper, John, Oliver the First: Contemporary Images of Oliver Cromwell, 1999, p. 28
• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 97
• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 107
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 179