English School, 1620

Portrait of Mary Harvey, aged 24, three-quarter-length, in a black dress and hat with a lace collar and cuffs, holding a prayer book in her right hand, beside a candle on a table

Details

English School, 1620
Portrait of Mary Harvey, aged 24, three-quarter-length, in a black dress and hat with a lace collar and cuffs, holding a prayer book in her right hand, beside a candle on a table
with early inscription 'Mary Harvey Ao:1620 AETS. 24 Obijt. May. 25. 1622' (upper left)
oil on panel
43¾ x 31¼ in. (111.1 x 79.3 cm.)

Provenance

presumably by descent in the family of the sitter to Louisa Harvey, daughter of Admiral Eliab Harvey, who married William Lloyd, of Aston Hall, Oswestry, Shropshire, and by descent to
Andrew Lloyd, Camp Hill Cottage, Emery Down, Lyndhurst (according to a label attached to the reverse).

Literature

A. Sakula, The Betchworth Portraits: Members of the Family of William Harvey, in Medical History, 1980, 24, pp. 335.

Exhibited

on loan to the Royal College of Physicians, circa 1954

Lot Essay

This portrait is one of a group of members of the family of Dr.William Harvey (1578-1657), discoverer of the circulation of the blood. William Harvey had no children but six brothers. A family tree of the Harvey family is published by A. Sakula (op.cit.) but does not include reference to a 'Mary Harvey' with dates that correlate to those inscribed on this portrait, but she is presumably a niece. Sakula (op.cit.) records a number of portraits of the family, including one of Dr. William Harvey, as in the collection of Andrew. F. Lloyd.

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