The portraits in the board room of St. George's Hospital / by Warrington Haward.

  • Haward, John Warrington, 1841-1921.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The portraits in the board room of St. George's Hospital / by Warrington Haward. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    to the Hospital. I have carefully searched the minute-books of the Hospital from the date of Hunter’s death to those of recent times, and the only refer- ence to the picture which I have been able to find is the following resolution of the Board of April 9, 1834 : “That Mr. Smith [the artist] be empowered to provide a frame for the picture of John Hunter, which has been presented to the charity, the cost of which is not to exceed There is no record of when or by whom the picture was presented, but the minute above quoted establishes the fact that the picture was painted before April, 1834. A careful examination of the picture failed to discover any signature or date; and this is not surprising, as it is not the custom of artists to sign copies of original pictures. I found, however, upon the back of the canvas the name of the firm by whom it was prepared (Messrs. Robertson and Miller, of Long Acre) and the number 2539 ; and on inquiry of Messrs. Robertson, they informed me that the canvas must have been prepared between 1830 and 1840, but could give me no nearer approximation to its date. I then asked Mr. Trimmer,* of the Royal College of Surgeons, if he could tell me if any permission to copy the picture had been given between 1830 and 1840, and I am indebted to him for very kindly finding and forwarding to me the following interesting record : “At an extraordinary meeting of the Council held on the 8th of March, 1834: ‘Read a letter of the 22nd ultimo from Mr. Nussey, requesting, on the part of several Governors of St. George’s Hospital, permission for an artist to take a copy of the portrait in the Library of the College of Mr. Hunter, for the purpose of placing it in the Board Room of that Hospital. “ Resolved : ‘ That the request of Mr. Nussey be complied with, subject to the control of the Library Committee.’ ” Mr. Trimmer adds: “There is nothing to show who was the artist employed to make the copy.” The minute of the Hospital Board of April 9, 1834, did not originally contain the words which I have placed in brackets, viz., “the artist.” These have been added in a different handwriting to the rest of the minute, and in different ink. But I think it may be reasonably presumed that those words were added for the purpose of indicating that the “ Mr. Smith ” to whom authority was given to provide a frame was the artist who had painted the picture. But this does not carry one far towards a decision, for unfortunately Smith is not a very distinctive name, and there were a number of Smiths painting in 1834.! Of the many artists of this name of whom there is record, there seem to me to be only four who are at all likely to have painted * I desire to acknowledge the courteous assistance of Mr. Trimmer, and also of Mr. Victor G. Plarr, librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons ; also my indebtedness lo the Catalogue of Pictures and Busts in the College, compiled by Mr. Hallett, 1892, and the Catalogue of the Collection of Portraits and Relics, mainly illustrative of the history of the College and its former presidents, exhibited at the College, July, 1900, by Victor G. Plarr, M.A. f I desire to acknowledge the courteous assistance afforded me in this search by Mr. J. D. Milner, of the National Portrait Gallery.