Early Stuart Portraits Catalogue
William Harvey (1578-1657), Physician, discovered the circulation of the blood
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Physician; discovered the circulation of the blood; b. Folkestone; Gonville and Cauius College, Cambridge, 1593. BA 1597; in Padua 1600; member of the College of Physicians 1604; physician at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1609; Lumleian lectures 1616 in which he modified Galen’s theory concerning the role of the heart; published The Circulation of the Blood 1628 (in Frankfurt, in Latin ...De Motu Cordis...); appointed physician-extraordinary to James I 1618 and Charles I 1625; travelled in France 1630 and Spain 1632; accompanied an embassy to Nuremberg 1636; physician-in-ordinary to the King 1639; DM 1642 and warden of Merton College 1643; suffered under the Commonwealth for his closeness to the King; buried at Hempstead, Essex.
‘He was always very contemplative ... he did delight to be in the darke’ (Aubrey, pp 228-29)
‘He was not tall; but of the lowest stature, round faced, olivaster complexion; little eie, round, very black, full of Spirit; his hair was black as a raven, but quite white 20 yeares before he dyed’ (Aubrey, p 230).
This extended catalogue entry is by John Ingamells, one of a limited number of entries drafted in 2010 for the incomplete catalogue, Early Stuart Portraits 1625-1685, and is as written then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
‘He was always very contemplative ... he did delight to be in the darke’ (Aubrey, pp 228-29)
‘He was not tall; but of the lowest stature, round faced, olivaster complexion; little eie, round, very black, full of Spirit; his hair was black as a raven, but quite white 20 yeares before he dyed’ (Aubrey, p 230).
This extended catalogue entry is by John Ingamells, one of a limited number of entries drafted in 2010 for the incomplete catalogue, Early Stuart Portraits 1625-1685, and is as written then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.