LDBDA : 2936

oil painting

Dentist with Narcissi

three-quarter length oil portrait of Sir John Tomes, First President of the BDA. Framed in a Victorian moulded gilt gesso frame. The painting's title is 'Dentist with Narcissi'

Sir John Tomes (1815 - 1895) was the `father` of British Dental Association and the first President. Tomes helped unify the dental profession by helping to establish the first dental qualification, the LDS, in 1860 and fighting for the 1878 Dentists Act. With Tomes support the BDA was formed in 1880. Tomes first published many papers on his influential research on teeth. His forceps, made by Jean-Marie Evrard, became an industry standard. The Dental Reform Commitee commissioned McCartney (possibly Carlile Henry Hayes Macartney (c.1842-1924) to paint Tomes in his offices, amongst his favourite belongings. It was shown at the prestigious Royal Academy Winter Exhibition in 1883.

Macartney 1880

frame gilded wood; painting oil paint, canvas; height 1000mm; width 1540mm