The Art of Medicine
Dr Emm Barnes


For thousands of years artists have played a special role in the human quest to understand anatomy, health and disease; this book celebrates their creativity and inquisitiveness using little-seen, stunning imagery from one of the world's greatest collections.

The Wellcome Collection is based on the enormous bequest left by pioneering pharmacist Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936). For many years, he travelled the globe, acquiring any kind of art or artefact with a bearing on health and medical treatment: the resulting collection everything from oil paintings, to dentures, scrolls, glass eyes and illuminated books numbers over a million pieces, and forms a unique history of humankind's growing understanding of ourselves and our world.

Using a wealth of previously unseen images from the collection, and telling the fascinating story of medical understanding worldwide, The Art of Medicine celebrates both medical advance and visual artistry.