Portrait of: Richard Mead
By: B. Baron
After: A. Ramsay
Style: Line engraving
Date: 1749
Dimensions: 33 x 51.5 cm
Richard Mead (1673-1754) was a physician and collector of books andart born in Middlesex. He studied at the University of Leiden although he didnot graduate. Mead embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe in 1703, where he developedan interest in antiquities. In 1703, Mead was elected to the Royal Societyand physician to St Thomas's Hospital in Southwark. In 1716 he was electedas a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Although Mead had a particular interest in antiquity developed on his GrandTour of Europe, classical allusions were popular in many portraits of the longEighteenth Century. Behind Mead, in an enclave surrounded by a neo-classicalarch, stands a statue of the Goddess of Health, Hygeia. The drapes are alsoa common feature in portraiture reminiscent of the draping of a toga, additionallylarge expanses of cloth were expensive in this period, giving the portraita sense of grandeur.
