Sir Hans Sloane - London, England, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 31.131 W 000° 07.573
30U E 699376 N 5711441
Sir Hans Sloane was a physician whose collections became the foundation for the British Museum.
Waymark Code: WMDFWF
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/10/2012
Views: 4
This bust of Sloane (1660-1753) depicts him as an older man wearing a long wig, a ruffled shirt and a kerchief. It is located inside the British Museum which does not charge an admission fee and DOES allow non-flash photography. The life-sized piece is by Flemish sculptor Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770). The placard does not indicate the material used..it may be marble. Read more about Rysbrack at (
visit link)
Wikipedia (
visit link) further informs us that Sloan was:
"...notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum. He also introduced drinking chocolate milk to Europe and gave his name to Sloane Square in London, and Sir Hans Slone Square in his birthplace Killyleagh...
When Sloane retired in 1741, his library and cabinet of curiosities, which he took with him from Bloomsbury to his house in Chelsea, had grown to be of unique value. He had acquired the extensive natural history collections of William Courten, Cardinal Filippo Antonio Gualterio, James Petiver, Nehemiah Grew, Leonard Plukenet, the Duchess of Beaufort, the rev. Adam Buddle, Paul Hermann, Franz Kiggelaer and Herman Boerhaave. On his death on 11 January 1753 he bequeathed his books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, flora, fauna, medals, coins, seals, cameos and other curiosities to the nation, on condition that parliament should pay to his executors £20,000, which was a good deal less than the value of the collection. The bequest was accepted on those terms by an act passed the same year, and the collection, together with George II's royal library, etc., was opened to the public at Bloomsbury as the British Museum in 1759. A significant proportion of this collection was later to become the foundation for the Natural History Museum.
Among his other acts of munificence may be mentioned his gift to the Apothecaries' Company of the botanical or physic garden, which they had rented from the Chelsea estate since 1673."