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Original copper engraving portrait of english physician William Harvey, " first known physician to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood". The vintage engraving shows William Harvey, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, in a medallion draped with cloth, also shows a drawing of the cardiovascular system, parts of a plant, and a snake entwined around a stick, suggesting a caduceus. [The original engraving is framed and comes with an exceptional Facsimile of the first edition of "De Motu Cordis (see images)"]. Beautifully Framed. Size of frame with Harvey's portrait: 32 cm x 38 cm. Size of the actual portrait engraving: 9.5 cm x 15.5 cm. Excellent condition ! William Harvey (1 April 1578 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made seminal contributions in anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart, though earlier writers, such as Realdo Colombo, Michael Servetus, and Jacques Dubois, had provided precursors of the theory. In 1973 the William Harvey Hospital was constructed in the town of Ashford, a few miles from his birthplace of Folkestone. William's father, Thomas Harvey, was a jurat of Folkestone where he served the office of mayor in 1600. Records and personal descriptions delineate him as an overall calm, diligent, and intelligent man whose "sons. revered, consulted and implicitly trusted in him. (they) made their father the treasurer of their wealth when they acquired great estates.(He) kept, employed, and improved their gainings to their great advantage." Thomas Harvey's portrait can still be seen in the central panel of a wall of the dining-room at Rolls Park, Chigwell, in Essex. William was the eldest of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, of Thomas and his wife Joan Halke. Notable family connections include Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, who married William's niece Elizabeth Harvey, and the diplomat Sir Daniel Harvey. Harvey's initial education was carried out in Folkestone, where he learned Latin. He then entered the King's School (Canterbury). Harvey stayed at the King's School for five years, after which he matriculated at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge in 1593. Harvey graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from Caius in 1597. He then travelled through France and Germany to Italy, where he entered the University of Padua, in 1599. During Harvey's years of study there, he developed a relationship with Fabricius and read Fabricius's De Venarum Ostiolis. Harvey graduated as a Doctor of Medicine at the age of 24 from the University of Padua on 25 April 1602. It reports that Harvey had "conducted himself so wonderfully well in the examination and had shown such skill, memory and learning that he had far surpassed even the great hopes which his examiners had formed of him." After graduating from Padua, Harvey immediately returned to England where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cambridge that same year, and became a fellow of Gonville and Caius College. Following this, Harvey established himself in London, joining the Royal College of Physicians on 5 October 1604. A few weeks after his admission, Harvey married Elizabeth Browne, "daughter of Lancelot Browne Dr. Physic". They had no children. Harvey was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians on 5 June 1607, which earned him the Post-nominal letters FRCP, and he then accepted a position at St Bartholomew's Hospital that he was to occupy for almost all the rest of his life. Succeeding a Dr Wilkinson on 14 October 1609, he became the Physician in charge at St Bartholomew's Hospital, which enjoined him, "in God's most holy name" to "endeavor yourself to do the best of your knowledge in the profession of physic to the poor then present, or any other of the poor at any time of the week which shall be sent.
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