Head and shoulders, to the right, nearly full face; wearing a dark gown with wide falling collar and tassels loosely tied. The face is thoughtful, with a full moustache and pointed beard. Head covered with a skull-cap allowing the hair to escape below it and exposing a wide brow. The canvas is signed very obscurely in the corner, just above the right shoulder, ‘C. J. 1641’. It is attributed to Janssen and was bought by Mr. Erich at a sale. It appears doubtful whether the portrait represents Dr. William Harvey.
A half-length, standing, full face. If this is a portrait of Harvey it represents him as a much older man than many of the others, untrimmed, dishevelled, and altogether different from the spruce, well-groomed man who is usually represented.
The portrait is in the possession of John P. Cobbold, Esq., of Holywells, Ipswich, who has very courteously supplied the photograph from which the present collotype has been made. Dr. John Ogle (Harveian Oration for 1880, p. 118) states--without mentioning his authority--that the picture formerly belonged to the Earl of Winchilsea. It was copied by the Rev. Richard Cobbold, a former member of Caius College, Cambridge, and the copy was presented by him to the College in 1843.
The bust is placed in the wall of the church at Hempstead and forms part of a marble monument with a long inscription in Latin. The bust was carefully examined some years ago by Mr. Thomas Woolner, R.A., who came to the conclusion that it was made from a death-mask. He says of it, ‘The features presented by the bust are clearly those of a dead face. The sculptor exhibits no knowledge of sculpture except when he was copying what was directly before him. With the cast of the face for his copy he has shown true artistic delineation, but all that he has been obliged to add to make up the bust is of the worst possible quality. The ears are placed entirely out of position, the large, redundant head of hair is altogether out of character, imaginary, and badly executed, and the drapery of the shoulders is simply despicable.’ The second collotype [Pl. XIX] shows that the right ear is a mere hole pierced in the rough marble block which forms the back of the head. No attempt is made to supply the pinna.