This book considers the rich intersection of art, medicine, and antiquarianism in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It does so by examining the phenomenon of the “virtuoso,” or learned polymath, in the context of the Royal Society of London. To this end, the text focuses on three historical moments—the early Stuart court, the Restoration, and the early Georgian period. Contrary to the familiar modern academic model, in which scholars rarely tread beyond tightly segregated areas of expertise, the virtuosi at the core of this study accepted a synthesis of knowledge. This was especially so in the realm of medicine, whose practitioners were also collectors, patrons, and connoisseurs, entirely conversant in the theoretical dialogues of art. The historical moment illuminated by this book was rooted in the antique past, yet poised at the brink of modernity, struggling to negotiate the gap between time-honored antique wisdom and the revelations of empirical experimentation.

Craig Ashley Hanson deftly addresses changing perceptions of theory and empiricism, presenting the image of the virtuoso as both praised and disparaged—inhabiting the edges of arcane knowledge, yet also adapting to the discoveries of the new science. The figure of the gentlemanly and learned virtuoso was satirized and demeaned as irrelevant, even as “empirics,” who lacked a classical foundation of learning, were maligned as quacks. Today, art and medicine inhabit separate realms, and their mutual dependence on antiquity, which prevailed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, seems irreconcilable. However, in the early modern era, a future without both was unthinkable, and a physician who was unable to speak authoritatively about art and history could not hope to breach the boundaries of elite society. This book leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind how a pivotal figure like Sir Isaac Newton could have laid the foundations of modern physics, while working to discover the alchemical philosopher’s stone.

After an introduction, the first of the book’s five chapters documents medicine and connoisseurship among virtuosi at the early Stuart Court, exemplified by the circle around Lord Arundel. The most notable of the group, William Harvey, exemplifies the virtuoso as a man of broad learning, at home in both the classical past and in contemporary culture, to which he contributed. Via an extended discussion of Richard Haydocke’s translation of Lomazzo’s treatise on the arts, Hanson traces the origins of the virtuoso in Continental theory, demonstrating that traditional learning was intricately intertwined with social status. Moving forward chronologically, chapter 2 takes on the next generation of virtuosi, which evolved after the Restoration. Concentrating on several key figures, most notably John Evelyn and Christopher Wren, Hanson addresses the medical interests of both men and identifies important similarities and differences between English and Continental approaches to medicine and the arts.

Chapter 3 is devoted to physicians, quackery, and art writing in the second half of the seventeenth century. Hanson pursues the tension between traditional rationalism and modern empiricism through comparison of treatises by William Aglionby and William Salmon. Here the fine line between physician and quack, so prominent in the discourse of the period, becomes blurred, as both authors were widely read and admired for their medical knowledge. Aglionby, however, appealed to his elite audience by encouraging appreciation for the classical and theoretical foundations of medicine, whereas Salmon geared his book to an increasingly literate and artistically inclined public. The chapter demonstrates ultimately how diverse members of the medical community, both conservative and progressive, wrestled with the same issues at play in the visual arts. Quackery is also at the heart of chapter 4. Here Hanson centers discussion on the figure of Don Quixote, who serves as the fulcrum for the uneasy collision of traditional theory and empirical observation in the Restoration and early eighteenth century. In the context of the continuing debate, the brilliant satires of the artist William Hogarth receive sophisticated analysis. The chapter demonstrates clearly that the spheres of literature and art reinforced a growing skepticism toward medical practitioners and classical learning. The fifth and final chapter demonstrates how the polymathic instincts of the virtuosi persisted well into the eighteenth century. Centering discussion on the figure of Dr. Richard Mead, the chapter chronicles how the virtuosi responded to a Newtonian framework, even as they held fast to ancient models. The situation is personified in Mead’s struggle to function as a trained doctor and to embrace the new empiricist orientation of the Royal Society, while avoiding being labeled an empiric.

The book is authoritatively researched, logically organized, and articulate. Its dense factual information, gleaned from primary documents, will be mined for years by historians in many fields. Craig Ashley Hanson is clearly confident in the conventions of art historical scholarship, comfortable with the descriptive vocabulary of visual analysis, and fluent in the iconographical conventions on which early modern art was based. Sadly, however, few of the great canonical artists mentioned for their connections to the virtuosi—Rubens, Kneller, Van Dyck, Hilliard, Wright of Derby, Watteau, Lely, Hoogstraten, Wren—are illustrated. The satirical engravings of William Hogarth, which are compellingly analyzed, are an exception. Indeed, distinct and complementary studies devoted to each of these artists could be written, using this book as a springboard. Consideration of the roots of the virtuosic institution in the medieval guilds of St. Luke, to which both artists and physicians belonged, would also be a subject for further investigation.

Though confined to early modern England, Hanson’s inclusive and intelligent view of this volatile era makes it clear that art historians, who tend to extract works of art from their original and widely eclectic contexts, must, from this time forward, consider the history of medicine as a powerful determiner of meaning. This thoughtful and rigorous book elucidates a culture of erudition that involved both art and medicine in a seamless dialogue. It skillfully demonstrates that the ancient paradigms at the core of both disciplines were relinquished gradually and not without considerable resistance and debate.