The John Bargrave Collection
Kenelm Digby (11 Jul 1603 - 11 Jun 1665)
An English courtier, diplomat, natural philosopher, and a leading Roman Catholic intellectual. While in Spain, he participated in the marriage negotiations of Charles I, along with Buckingham. He was a member of the Guinea Company and acted as Deputy Governor for a year (Leith-Ross, 169). He is named as a benefactor in Musaeum Tradescantianum. He was a source of objects for others as well, gathered from a privateering expedition in the Mediterranean as well as antiquities from stops in Melos, Delos and Mycenae (Leith-Ross, 169). Peacham names Digby as a source of some of Charles I's marbles: "some of the old Greek marble bases, columns, and altars were brought from the ruins of Apollo's Temple at Delos by that noble and absolutely complete gentleman, Sir Kenelm Digby, knight" (120). Digby also collected books, "was fascinated by chemical experiment," and was "the first to appreciate the importance of oxygen to the life of plants" (Leith-Ross, 170). Dictionary of National Biography entry: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7629?docPos=7 Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenelm_Digby Relevant locations: Visited SpainVisited Delos
Visited Milos
Visited Mycenae
Workplace or place of business Guinea
People linked to person: Kenelm Digby was a associate or acquaintance (general) of Charles I of England (1600-1649)
Kenelm Digby was a source of object(s) for Tradescanti (-)
Kenelm Digby was a associate or acquaintance (general) of George Villiers (1592-1628)