Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
Francis Willis (1718-1807), Physician
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Physician; MB and MD Oxford 1759; from 1769 physician in Lincoln, where he treated mental illness; in December 1788 he was summoned to treat George III and on the King’s recovery his reputation soared; he built a second house at Shillingthorpe, Lincs., to accommodate his patients; for a few months in 1792 he unsuccessfully treated Maria I, Queen of Portugal, in Lisbon, but he was richly paid.
‘Dr Willis is a man of ten thousand; open, honest, dauntless, light-hearted, innocent, and high-minded: I see him impressed with the most animated reverence and affection for [the King]; but it is wholly for his character, - not a whit for his rank’ (Fanny Burney, 1789).
‘“he had an eye like Mars, to threaten or command” ... his numerous patients, stood as much in awe of this formidable weapon, as of bars, chains, or straight waistcoats’ (Frederick Reynolds, 1826).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published 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.
‘Dr Willis is a man of ten thousand; open, honest, dauntless, light-hearted, innocent, and high-minded: I see him impressed with the most animated reverence and affection for [the King]; but it is wholly for his character, - not a whit for his rank’ (Fanny Burney, 1789).
‘“he had an eye like Mars, to threaten or command” ... his numerous patients, stood as much in awe of this formidable weapon, as of bars, chains, or straight waistcoats’ (Frederick Reynolds, 1826).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published 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.