Jane Gray (b.1931)
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, Design for Stained Glass Millennium Window (1999)
Watercolour
25 x 13.5 cm
Signed.
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries was founded in 1617, after breaking away from the Grocers’ Company (founded 1345). The Society were granted a royal charter by James I, and, throughout the remainder of the 17th century, challenged the College of Physicians monopoly on practicing medicine. In 1704, the House of Lords overturned a ruling of the Queen’s Bench that gave apothecaries the right to practice medicine. Apothecaries, therefore, may be viewed as the forerunners of present-day general (medical) practitioners or family physicians. Gray’s design for this 2000 memorial window, in the Apothecaries Hall in Blackfriars, London, features the names and illustrations of several medicinal plants, including Belladonna, Opium, Digitalis, Oenothara, Primrose, Cowslip, Nasturtium, Camomile, and Marigold.
Provenance: the artist’s studio sale.
Condition: very good.
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