Portrait of Valentine Greatrakes
Date
2007
Sitter
Valentine Greatrakes (1628 - 1682, Irish) , Healer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Subject
Description
Half-length study of Valentine Greatrakes, shown laying hands on the head and face of a boy. Greatrakes is shown dressed in a buttoned coat with a white puritan collar, and a tie.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears at pp.90-91, as Weld’s text gives an account of Robert Boyle’s belief in Greatrakes, and contemporary accounts of his practices, including by John Flamsteed.
Inscribed above: ‘WONDERFUL MUSEUM’. Inscribed below: ‘NATHANIEL GREATRAKES, ESQR. a Native of Waterford County, IRELAND & most Remarkable for Curing many Disorders by the Stroke of Touch of his Hand only. Pub. by Alex. Hogg, 16, Paternoster-row, March 1–1803.’
Valentine Greatrakes [nicknamed the Stroker] (1628-1682) Irish faith healer.
Digital photograph of an engraved depiction of Valentine Greatrakes.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears at pp.90-91, as Weld’s text gives an account of Robert Boyle’s belief in Greatrakes, and contemporary accounts of his practices, including by John Flamsteed.
Inscribed above: ‘WONDERFUL MUSEUM’. Inscribed below: ‘NATHANIEL GREATRAKES, ESQR. a Native of Waterford County, IRELAND & most Remarkable for Curing many Disorders by the Stroke of Touch of his Hand only. Pub. by Alex. Hogg, 16, Paternoster-row, March 1–1803.’
Valentine Greatrakes [nicknamed the Stroker] (1628-1682) Irish faith healer.
Digital photograph of an engraved depiction of Valentine Greatrakes.
Object history
Print from Charles Richard Weld's A history of the Royal Society, vol. 1... (London, John W. Parker, 1848) grangerized by the writer and collector Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) into 8 volumes, adding illustrative material and manuscript items to Weld's text. The books were initially owned by Ludwig Mond FRS (1839–1909), and according to an inscription by his son Robert Ludwig Mond FRS (1867–1938) they were intended for presentation to the Society. This eventually happened in late 1959, the donor being the politician Harry Nathan (1889–1963), Lord Nathan of Churt.
Associated place