Chapter XV: National Portrait Gallery

A half-length figure seated in a large arm-chair, directed to the right; three-quarter face, looking at the spectator; in dark velvet coat or cloak with closely arranged row of buttons in the centre; the coat or cloak with six rows of braided bands, cut square at the elbows. A lighter sleeve is shown with narrow white cuffs or wristbands. The right hand is resting on a pillar and holds a cap, which is upright; the left hand rests on the arm of the chair. The falling collar has no tassels. The eyes are small and dark, the complexion sallow, and the features worn; the hair, moustache, and chin-tuft are white. There is a general resemblance to Harvey, but the face is too round, and the hands are certainly not like the hands portrayed in the other pictures.

The canvas measures 38½ in. by 31 in. and is inscribed ‘Gulielmus (Magnus ille) Harveius’. It was purchased from the trustees of J. O. Else in January, 1859, and is partly reproduced in the facsimile issue of _An Anatomical Dissertation upon the Movement of the Heart and Blood in Animals_. Privately printed for G. Moreton, Canterbury, 1894.