Francis Glisson 1597-1677 F. 1635

Portrait/X379

Francis Glisson 1597-1677 F. 1635

c.1670

By an unknown artist (? William Faithorne),

Head and shoulders; thick brown wig, white bands; grizzled eyebrows, dark grey eyes; black doublet; black gown; plain dark brown background; inscribed in yellow letters: Franciscus. Glisson. M.D.

<span class="wrapper"><p>It has been attributed to William Faithorne on the strength of the rather similar engraving, inscribed: Del. et Fecit W. Faithorne, which was used as frontispiece for Glisson's Tractatus de Natura Substantiae Energetica, of 1672 (this engraving gives the sitter's age as 75; in a later state--for the 1677 edition--it is altered to 80). The engraving faces the reverse way from the College picture, as might be expected in an engraving made from a painting, but the set of expression is markedly different: note the treatment of chin and nose, and also the variations in dress and wig. It is not certain that Faithorne ever worked in oils. Possibly the engraving and the painting are both derived from a lost archetype.</p> <p>Exhibited, National Portrait Exhibition, 1866 (990). A copy, probably by J.. Wollaston, is in the Bodleian Library.</p></span>

English

The date and source of acquisition are at present unknown; it has however been in the College since the first quarter of the eighteenth century (though it is not noted in Vertue's list of 1733), as the inscription is of a type common to several portraits in the collection and used about that date.*

* It seems to be first recorded in a list of portraits in the College compiled about 1797 (British Museum, Add. Ms. 6391, fo. III, v).

Oils on canvas, 29½ by 24¾ inches

Francis Glisson was born in Dorset. He graduated M.D. at Cambridge in 1634 and was appointed Regius professor of physic there in 1636, an office which he held until he died. He remained in Cambridge for some years, but during the civil wars he practised in Colchester with great reputation. Shortly after this he seems to have moved to London; he was certainly resident there in 1650 and thereafter he took an active part in the affairs of the College.

Glisson was one of the illustrious few who instituted weekly meetings in London to promote inquiries into natural and experimental philosophy, from which, after the Restoration, the Royal Society came into being, Glisson of course being a member. He was one of the early English anatomists who were inspired by the great example of Harvey.

Glisson's first work was De Rachitide, seu Morbo Puerili, published in 1650. His next work, De Hepate, was published in 1654 and this account of the cellular envelope of the vena porta was so much more accurate than any which had previously been published that his name became inseparably connected with it, under the designation "Glisson's capsule". Glisson's third work, Tractatus de Natura Sub-stantiae Energetica, seu de Vita Naturae, was published in 1672. Though it is in a system and manner now obsolete, it deserves admiration as an extraordinary effort of understanding by a man of advanced age. His last work, De Ventriculo et Intestinis, appeared in the year of his death.