''Lady Dorothy Browne and Sir Thomas Browne'' is an oil on panel painting attributed to the English artist

Joan Carlile Joan Carlile or Carlell or Carliell (c. 1606–1679), was an English portrait painter. She was one of the first British women known to practise painting professionally. Before Carlile, known professional female painters working in Britain were ...

, and probably completed between 1641 and 1650. The painting depicts English physician

Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne (; 19 October 160519 October 1682) was an English polymath and author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric. His writings display a deep curi ...

and his wife Dorothy.

Subjects

Sir

(1605–1682), the son of Thomas Browne, a silk merchant from

Upton Upton may refer to: Places United Kingdom England * Upton, Slough, Berkshire (in Buckinghamshire until 1974) * Upton, Buckinghamshire, a hamlet near Aylesbury * Upton, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough * Upton, Huntingdonshire, a location in Cambridge ...

, Cheshire, and Anne Browne, the daughter of Paul Garraway of Sussex, was born in the parish of St Michael,

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, where ...

, in London on 19 October 1605. His father died while he was still young and he was sent to school at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

. In 1623 Browne went to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He graduated from

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

in 1626, after which he studied medicine at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

universities, completing his studies at

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, where he received a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in 1633. He settled in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in 1637 and practised medicine there until his death in 1682. He was noted for the literary works ''

Religio Medici ''Religio Medici'' (''The Religion of a Doctor'') by Sir Thomas Browne is a spiritual testament and early psychological self-portrait. Published in 1643 after an unauthorized version was distributed the previous year, it became a European best- ...

'' ''(The Religion of a Physician)'' and ''

Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial ''Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk'' is a work by Sir Thomas Browne, published in 1658 as the first part of a two-part work that concludes with ''The Garden of Cyrus''. The title is Greek f ...

''. His wife, Lady Browne (, 1621–1685), came from a landed family in the Norfolk town of

Burlingham St Peter Lingwood and Burlingham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, comprising the large village of Lingwood together with the smaller villages of Burlingham Green, North Burlingham and South Burlingham. The villages are all within of ...

. She was described by family friend

John Whitefoot John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

as "a lady of such a symmetrical proportion to her worthy husband, both in the graces of her body and mind, that they seemed to come together by a kind of natural magnetism". The couple married in 1641.

Description

The two Brownes are portrayed in contrasting styles. Lady Browne, dressed with two brooches and a headpiece, is looking directly at the viewer with a pleasant expression. Sir Thomas, on the other hand, appears to be staring into the distance. He is dressed in black with a white collar. American professor Reid Barbour has likened the pair to the pastoral poems of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

, with Lady Browne representing the upbeat ''

L'Allegro ''L'Allegro'' is a pastoral poem by John Milton published in his 1645 ''Poems''. ''L'Allegro'' (which means "the happy man" in Italian) has from its first appearance been paired with the contrasting pastoral poem, ''Il Penseroso'' ("the melan ...

'' while Sir Thomas is the serious ''

Il Penseroso ''Il Penseroso'' ("the thinker") is a poem by John Milton, first found in the 1645/1646 quarto of verses ''The Poems of Mr. John Milton, both English and Latin'', published by Humphrey Moseley. It was presented as a companion piece to ''L'Alle ...

''. Barbour nonetheless described the two as complementing each other. There are no books or symbols visible in the painting. The painting is in size, and has been in the permanent collection of the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

since 1924 under the catalogue number NPG 2062.

Notes

References

* {{cite book , title=Sir Thomas Browne: A Life , first=Reid , last=Barbour , publisher=OUP Oxford , year=2013 , isbn=9780199679881 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4dwVAAAAQBAJ 1640s paintings Paintings by Joan Carlile Paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, London