Author: William Schupbach

Everyone who visits Agra in Uttar Pradesh visits the Taj Mahal, the monument which was built from 1632 onwards by the sorrowful Shah Jahan (1592-1666), fifth Mughal emperor, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, after her death in childbirth.… Continue reading

It seems appropriate that in the 75th anniversary year of Henry S. Wellcome’s death, the Wellcome Library, named after him because it was created by him in his lifetime, has added the 750,000th work to its online catalogue (online at… Continue reading

Amidst the much-publicised closing-down and boarding-up of some of the public libraries in the London Borough of Brent, there has been a cheering event from Brent Archives and Museum at Willesden Green Library Centre: their exhibition of works by the… Continue reading

1911 was a bumper year for exhibitions. In London there was the Festival of Empire and Imperial Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. In Turin there was the Esposizione Internazionale delle Industrie e del Lavoro. At the Hague in September there… Continue reading

The Paleofuture blog looks back at past projections into the future, an exercise that is usually instructive in one way or another. A few months ago (17 June 2011) it had a feature on a picture of “Rocket mailmen” which… Continue reading

Vivian Nutton at the Wellcome Institute (image: Wellcome Library) The latest issue of Wellcome History (issue 46, 2011) includes a series of articles in tribute to Professor Vivian Nutton, preceded by an article by Nutton himself describing how his field… Continue reading

Watercolour by Thomas Rowlandson, ca. 1825. Wellcome Library no. 726498i The Wellcome Library in London has acquired a watercolour by Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). Yes, without apology, yet another work by Rowlandson has been added to the large number of prints… Continue reading

Visitors to the Wellcome Library see in the entrance hall four paintings of the Works of Mercy by Frederick Cayley Robinson. They are allegories embedding the oppositions within themes relevant to the historic mission of hospitals: institutions and individuals, children… Continue reading

Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice: Scuola Grande and Hospital of San Marco, with the equestrian sculpture of Bartolomeo Colleoni in the foreground. Albumen print, 189-. Wellcome Library no. 665112i. A set of three volumes on art-collecting in Venice was… Continue reading

This print (left) sits in the Wellcome Library among a group of Dutch posters about the use of recreational drugs. It is exceptional for its casual production values: scraps of paper torn out of a notebook, containing incoherent verses which… Continue reading