The portraits of Sir Thomas Browne / by Charles Williams.

  • Williams, Charles, 1827-1907
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The portraits of Sir Thomas Browne / by Charles Williams. 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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    the male line having become extinct in 1708, Edward Howman most probably bequeathed it as a legacy to the parish of St. Peter; and here it remained in the church until 1871, when the vestry were pleased to allow it to be placed in the Norwich Hospital, where it forms one of the most conspicuous of all the portraits in the Board Room of that institution* It is still the property of St. Peter Mancroft. Roger Howman and Edward Browne were fellow citizens ; they were about the same age, followed the same profes- sion ; and very likely Edward Browne became godfather to Edward Howman, this Christian name being unknown in the family before then ; and although Roger—the family name—was not given to the first-born, it was bestowed on the third son, which makes it appear the more probable that the name Edward was derived from Dr. Edward Browne, who was then thirty-six years of age, and in practice in London. He never resided permanently in Norwich, and after his mother's death sold the property he held in that cityt to Dr. Roger Howman. In addition to the three paintings there must have been a fourth, from which was engraved the portrait which appears in ' Pseudodoxia Epidemica,' fifth edition, 1669. This is a very indifferent work of art, totally unlike the learned author, executed by an unknown person, and dissimilar to * The likenesses of nearly all who had clone good work at this charity during the past hundred years were collected during the centenary year 1871, and placed in this room to commemorate the interesting event. t ' The East Anglian,' vol. i., 1885. p. 194.
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