Author: William Schupbach

One of the advantages of the Wellcome Library’s annual summer Closed Week is that, in the course of putting a lot of things right which had become not quite right, the staff get the opportunity to work with documents for… Continue reading

by Jeffrey S. Reznick PhD The four paintings of the Acts of Mercy by Frederick Cayley Robinson, now in the Wellcome Library, were painted between 1915 and 1920. Cayley Robinson derived his subjects from a variety of sources. A brass plaque… Continue reading

One of the pleasures of the London summer fairs is their unpredictability. Who would have expected to find at the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia (4-13 June 2010) a document signed by William Harvey the anatomist (1578-1657)? Offered… Continue reading

The above photograph of one of the four Acts of Mercy paintings by Frederick Cayley Robinson, now in the Wellcome Library, was taken in the Middlesex Hospital in 2006 by Dr Jeffrey S. Reznick. Dr Reznick is Deputy Chief of… Continue reading

Occasionally things like this happen. Christie’s South Kensington are having a sale on 30 June 2010 of Victorian and British Impressionist art (mostly paintings and drawings). Lot 159 (see image on left from the sale catalogue) is a small oil… Continue reading

A Chinese portrait artist, Hong Kong. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869. Wellcome Library no. 19840i. In or near Liverpool this weekend? Among other attractions in the city, the Wellcome Library’s spectacular exhibition of photographs of Imperial China will be on… Continue reading

Etching and stipple print by P.W. Tomkins,1798, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1786. Wellcome Library no. 536282i   In Roman history, the keepers of the temple of Vesta were the Vestal Virgins, who play a part in many myths and stories.… Continue reading

Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée Chevalier D’Éon de Beaumont died 200 years ago on 21 May 1810 REQUIESCAT IN PACE Spy: his cloak-and-dagger activity in a world of smoke and mirrors would have baffled George Smiley. He practised this… Continue reading

The façade of The Middlesex Hospital, Mortimer Street, London, now demolished. The Wellcome Library receives a steady stream of former members of staff of The Middlesex Hospital renewing their acquaintance with the four well-remembered paintings Acts of Mercy by Frederick… Continue reading

Cunicularii or the wise men of Godliman in consultation. Etching by William Hogarth, 1726. Wellcome Library no. 17342i The story of Mary Toft (also called Tofts) has been told many times, but it is worth revisiting as it has many… Continue reading