The good doctor

IN August, the British Museum relocated the portrait bust of its founding benefactor Sir Hans Sloane from a prominent front-of-house plinth to an obscure glass case in the interior. There, it has been ‘contextualised’, that is, placed next to an explanatory text headed ‘Legacies of Empire and Slavery’.

Subsequently, perhaps consequently, I’ve heard and seen various misconceptions about Sloane. For example, his collecting, which not only gave rise to the British Museum but also furnished the cores of the British