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Spotlight on Headingley, 1897
Over the last few days, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans and Britons around the world have been been paying attention to an event taking place in a suburb of Leeds in Yorkshire. It’s the second Test between Sri Lanka… Continue reading
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Spotlight: a summer fête in Powys
Two men pose for the camera at a Welsh vicarage garden party on Saturday 25 July 1925. They are performing a charade, but surely few people could guess what their outlandish costumes are supposed to represent. In fact they are… Continue reading
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Early modern horror: a study visit to the Wellcome Library
The second term of the academic year (January – March) is a popular time for seminars and classes at the Wellcome Library. The last two months have seen visits from many university institutions in London (the Courtauld Institute of Art,… Continue reading
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Daumier’s Flâneur: an appropriated man
The cover of the September 2013 Apollo magazine might have aroused a semi-conscious flicker of déjà vu in some visitors to the Wellcome Library. It reproduced a painting by the Scottish-born painter Peter Doig. The painting, called Metropolitain, is one… Continue reading
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Bring on the shepherds
While the Wellcome Library is closed for the Christmas holiday (23 December 2013 to 1 January 2014), the shepherds — bit players in the drama of the Nativity — receive top billing on the Wellcome Library blog. A look at… Continue reading
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Focusing on history in Hong Kong
A revelation awaits visitors to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum: the current exhibition Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China (1868-1872). The exhibition shows large photographic prints of Hong Kong and mainland China in 1868-1872, made… Continue reading
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A new catalogue of paintings: Camden vol. 1
One of the latest volumes published by the Public Catalogue Foundation is devoted to paintings located in the London Borough of Camden, including the paintings in the Wellcome Library. The Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) is a charity that, among other… Continue reading
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We come to no. 70,000: Landscape without rainbow
A new milestone has been reached in the cataloguing of the Wellcome Library’s prints, photographs, drawings and paintings: the 70,000th catalogue record has been created. The 65,000th record was noted on this blog on 18 March 2009. Both Library staff… Continue reading
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Potsdam for piety, potatoes, pleasure and parades
Frederick the Great (1712-1786) left his mark on Europe in many fields: war, music, politics, architecture, language, philosophy, and nutrition. His presence is most apparent at Potsdam in Germany, where he built the Sanssouci Palace and the Neues Palais. These… Continue reading
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By the banks of the New River
With the current resurgence of interest in London’s lost rivers, there’s a case to be made that perhaps the capital’s most unknown waterway is actually hidden in plain sight. Whilst your Fleets, Tyburns and Effras have the occluded air of… Continue reading