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Lot Essay
According to the circumscription this medal once belonged to Dr. Richard Mead. Below the portrait of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, is engraved mirror wise: 'Ex coll R. Mead. M.D.'. Dr. Richard Mead (1673-1754) is generally considered to be the most celebrated physician in England. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1703 and was appointed physician to George II in 1727. His patients included George I, Sir Robert Walpole and Sir Isaac Newton.
After studying in at Leiden, where he was the fellow student and friend of Boerhaave, Dr. Mead travelled for some time in Italy. This Italian travel probably laid the foundation of his love of objects of art and antiquity. Although Dr. Mead was the most flourishing physician of his day in London, his medical reputation was outshone by his eminence as a collector and patron of the arts. His collection comprised books, pictures, sculpture, and medals. According to Dr. Maty, a friend of Dr. Mead, no foreigner of any learning, or even curiosity, came to London without being introduced to him and seeing his collection. No wonder then that the proud owner of this medal had Dr. Mead's name inscribed on it, although today we may consider the position of the engraving somewhat awkward.
After Dr Mead's death his collection was put up for auction in a series of sales at Langford Baker. The sale occupied many days (the sale of Dr. Mead's collection of 10,000 books alone took fifty-seven days) and realised a sum of 16,047 pounds 12 shillings. It is not clear whether the present medal was included in the sale, but if it did it was likely sold as part of Mead's wonderful collection of coins and medals that was sold in the second sale that was held 11-19 February and 11 March 1755. The catalogue for these filled 209 pages of an octavo volume and comprised 492 lots. Al the Greek and Roman coins were fully described in Latin, obverse and reverse, so that a lot of 35 coins required two entire pages for its description. The catalogue of the English coins was in English, and it illustrated most of the coinage of the realm. Many are of great rarity and value, as for example the treble sovereign of Edward VI and the rose rial and spur rial of James I. The sale also comprised a large number of medals recording events of historical interest. Among them were 34 of gold. The Blake medal sold for 21 pounds. The amount realised by the coins and medals was 1,977 pounds 17 shillings.
Today Dr. Mead is best remembered as the former owner of the so-called Homer, a Greek bronze head of the third Century BC, in the British Museum, London (today identified as Sophocles). The Dutch may know Dr. Mead from the eight sketches by Rubens for the famous Life of Achilles series in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.
Comperative literature:
G. Fielding Blandford, 'Nova et Vetera. The Collection of Dr. Richard Mead', British Medical Journal (24 Nov. 1900), pp. 1508-1509.
R. Hardaway Mead, In the sunshine of life: a biography of Dr. Richard Mead, 1673-1754, Philadelphia, 1974.
D. Sutton, 'Aspects of British Collecting IV. The age of Sir Robert Walpole', Apollo CXIV (1981), pp. 328-329.
J. Turner, 'Richard Mead', The Dictionary of Art 21, New York, 1996.
After studying in at Leiden, where he was the fellow student and friend of Boerhaave, Dr. Mead travelled for some time in Italy. This Italian travel probably laid the foundation of his love of objects of art and antiquity. Although Dr. Mead was the most flourishing physician of his day in London, his medical reputation was outshone by his eminence as a collector and patron of the arts. His collection comprised books, pictures, sculpture, and medals. According to Dr. Maty, a friend of Dr. Mead, no foreigner of any learning, or even curiosity, came to London without being introduced to him and seeing his collection. No wonder then that the proud owner of this medal had Dr. Mead's name inscribed on it, although today we may consider the position of the engraving somewhat awkward.
After Dr Mead's death his collection was put up for auction in a series of sales at Langford Baker. The sale occupied many days (the sale of Dr. Mead's collection of 10,000 books alone took fifty-seven days) and realised a sum of 16,047 pounds 12 shillings. It is not clear whether the present medal was included in the sale, but if it did it was likely sold as part of Mead's wonderful collection of coins and medals that was sold in the second sale that was held 11-19 February and 11 March 1755. The catalogue for these filled 209 pages of an octavo volume and comprised 492 lots. Al the Greek and Roman coins were fully described in Latin, obverse and reverse, so that a lot of 35 coins required two entire pages for its description. The catalogue of the English coins was in English, and it illustrated most of the coinage of the realm. Many are of great rarity and value, as for example the treble sovereign of Edward VI and the rose rial and spur rial of James I. The sale also comprised a large number of medals recording events of historical interest. Among them were 34 of gold. The Blake medal sold for 21 pounds. The amount realised by the coins and medals was 1,977 pounds 17 shillings.
Today Dr. Mead is best remembered as the former owner of the so-called Homer, a Greek bronze head of the third Century BC, in the British Museum, London (today identified as Sophocles). The Dutch may know Dr. Mead from the eight sketches by Rubens for the famous Life of Achilles series in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.
Comperative literature:
G. Fielding Blandford, 'Nova et Vetera. The Collection of Dr. Richard Mead', British Medical Journal (24 Nov. 1900), pp. 1508-1509.
R. Hardaway Mead, In the sunshine of life: a biography of Dr. Richard Mead, 1673-1754, Philadelphia, 1974.
D. Sutton, 'Aspects of British Collecting IV. The age of Sir Robert Walpole', Apollo CXIV (1981), pp. 328-329.
J. Turner, 'Richard Mead', The Dictionary of Art 21, New York, 1996.