Portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes

Billings, E. T. (Edwin Tryon), 1824-1893. · 1889

Holmes said of this portrait, which was acquired by the Boston Medical Library at the time of his book collection and displayed in the original Holmes Hall, “It is there; the age is there; the wrinkles are there. It is a likeness. It is the portrait of an old man, dew-lap and all.” He later wrote, “I consider Mr. Billings’ portrait of myself an excellent likeness and so far as I can judge a good painting. I have had many pictures and photographs taken, but it seems to me that no one of them has been so satisfactory as this.” Portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) by E. T. Billings, which was displayed in the original Holmes Hall