A Portrait of a Physician his Medical Library,
believed to be Dr John Bathurst c.1600-1659
Oil on canvas; 50 x 40 inches / 127 x 101.5 cm.
Signed and dated 1637
Johnson was a London-born artist and became one of the most significant portrait painters before the Civil War. He painted members of the court and London’s social elite and quickly absorbed the grander European influences of Daniel Mijtens I and Anthony van Dyck. He fled to Holland during the Civil War where he remained and continued his successful career.
We are grateful to William Schupach, Curator of the Iconographic Collections at the Wellcome Library who helped with the identification of Dr John Bathurst as the most likely sitter for this portrait. Bathurst was from Kent and this portrait was painted during the period when Johnson was also living in that county. John Bathurst went on to become the personal physician to both Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard.