This portrait shows Anthony Ashley-Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury. The Earl met John Locke in 1666 when he traveled to Oxford, where Locke had been studying medicine, for treatment of a liver infection. Shaftesbury became impressed with Locke and offered him a position as his personal physician. Locke accepted and moved to London in 1667. Locke later saved the Earl's life when his liver infection became life threatening and Locke convinced the Earl to let him perform surgery (which was extremely risky in the 17th century) and succeeded in curing the infection. The Earl was one of the founders of the Whig movement, and Locke was influenced greatly by his political ideas.
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