John Heaviside (1748-1828)
Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/P 1727
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object namePrints (visual works), Portraits
TitleJohn Heaviside (1748-1828)
DescriptionPortrait of John Heaviside, half length to right, holding anatomical specimen, mezzotint by Richard Earlom, after Johann Zoffany, published by Robert Laurie and James Whittle, 1803.
Heaviside is shown standing with his body angled towards the right, wearing a dark coat with a white stock and ruffed white cuffs showing beneath. His left hand holds a dried preparation of a human heart, which rests on the table to his side. His right hand is pointing slightly above the heart, directed between this and a second preparation of a section of human spine which is mounted in a cylindrical glass jar standing on the mantlepiece behind him. To the left of the picture is a dark drape which hangs behind Heaviside.
John Heaviside was a surgeon and proprietor of a museum of anatomy and pathology (a view of which is preserved in the collection - see related records). Unlike many of his contemporaries, Heaviside was not active as a teacher of anatomy or surgery, but appears to have built up his museum mostly through the judicious purchase of other surgeons' collections, notably that of Henry Watson (1720-1793). Despite this he achieved significant renown for his museum, which he opened to the public on a regular basis. In this portrait Heaviside's appropriation of the work of others is made evident: the heart in the picture is a preparation made by Henry Watson in the 1780s, and described by Watson in a case published by in the 'Medical communications [of a] Society for Promoting Medical Knowledge' in 1784 (see documentation). Its presence in Heaviside's portrait may have been prompted by the inclusion of a description and a figure of the specimen in the series of engravings accompanying Matthew Baillie's 'Morbid Anatomy' (1803).
The preparation of a spine is also likely to have been one acquired by Heaviside from another surgeon. It shows the effects of osteoarticular tuberculosis, a condition known as 'Pott's disease of the spine' after the surgeon Percivall Pott (1714-1788). Heaviside was a pupil of Pott, and may have acquired the specimen after Pott's death.
This portrait is one of several from the late 18th or early 19th century in which surgeons' expertise as anatomists was demonstrated by the inclusion of preparations. Their popularity may have been inspired by the critical success of Joshua Reynolds' portrait of John Hunter and the subsequent engraving by William Sharp: for these and other examples see related records.
According to the inscription, the original portrait from which this print was made was in the possession of John Doratt. Dioratt was a pupil to and sometime assistant of Heaviside. Doratt was also the husband of Maria Theresa, daughter of Johann Zoffany.
Production date 1803
Engraver
Sitter/subject
Related objectsRCSSC/P 321RCSSC/P 121RCSSC/P 949
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionMezzotint. Two copies,
Bibliography
SourceSimmons 1784
NotesCase of Philip Kendal, tallow chandler of Denmark Street, treated at the Westminster General Dispensary by Simmons. This is the case from which the preparation of a human heart shown in Heaviside's portrait is derived.
SourceWatson 1784
NotesDescription of the post-mortem carried out by Watson on Philip Kendal. The preparation of a heart shown in Heaviside's portrait is described and figured.
SourceBaillie 1803
NotesThe heart shown in Heaviside's portrait is re-described and figured.
