Portrait of: William Harvey
By: Jacobus Houbraken
After: Wilhelm Von Bemmel
Style: Line engraving
Date: 1739
Dimensions: 22.2 x 36.3 cm
William Harvey (1578-1657) was a physician born in Kent. He studiedat Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In 1609 Harvey became physician toSt Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1639 Charles I made Harvey physician-in-ordinary.As such Harvey accompanied the King to Scotland on several occasions. In 1604, Harvey was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians in London, where anannual oration is held in commemoration of him. His most acclaimed achievementwas his discovery of the circulation of the blood.
Many of the accoutrements used in the prints were used to embellish the frameinstead of as props displayed within the image. Familiar images of books andmedical diagrams were used here to illustrate Harvey’s career, in particularthe image of the circulatory system to the sitter’s right. Other objectswere used to symbolise Harvey as a man of medicine, including the staff ofAsclepius, an ancient symbol associated with medicine, healing, and the GreekGod of medicine Asclepius. This is an interesting symbol to find in Harvey’sportrait as it reasserts a continuity with older traditions of medicaltheory based on the ideas of those including Galen and Aristotle, which Harvey’sdiscoveries were criticised for challenging and undermining.
