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Tag: iconography

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  • AIDS in Zimbabwe: a designer’s memoir

    08/08/2013

    In 1999 the Wellcome Library acquired this AIDS poster in the colours of the Zimbabwean flag (red, green, yellow and black), but had no idea of the story behind its creation until this year, when we were contacted by its… Continue reading

  • A royal arrival

    23/07/2013

    The arrival of a royal baby was the subject of a massive painting exhibited in Paris in 1827 by a young and then little-known painter, Eugène Devéria (1805-1865). The subject was the birth of the future king Henri IV of… Continue reading

  • Item of the Month: Vivat!

    01/06/2013

    Marking the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II,  William Schupbach, Iconographic Collections Librarian, explores the local environs of the Wellcome Library, then and now.  The painting above shows Euston Road in London, 60 years ago, early in the… Continue reading

  • Painting of St Peter

    Item of the Month: Revealing Saint Francis

    29/03/2013

    Taking inspiration from the recent papal election, we’ve decided to turn our attention to a work from the Wellcome Library that depicts not one, but two, Saints Francis. Pope Francis I has taken inspiration for his name from St Francis… Continue reading

  • Death and the motorcyclists, 1929. Wellcome Library no. 44254i.

    Mayhem on the road to modernity

    21/02/2013

    In America before World War I, Mr Toad‘s view of motoring was not uncommon: the driver was a wealthy sporting eccentric in the vanguard of modernity; he was free to drive on the public highway; and if people wanted to avoid… Continue reading

  • Recording the births and deaths of children

    01/02/2013

    The Society of Antiquaries of London is holding a series of public lectures which are free and open to all. Of the five lectures between September 2012 and May 2013,  the first, on 18 September 2012, was on the use… Continue reading

  • Collector of hearts

    21/11/2012

    Multidisciplinary artist and independent scholar Joanna Ebenstein shares her discoveries from a recent research visit to the Wellcome Library. I had the great pleasure of spending many hours over the past few weeks exploring the Wellcome Library. I came away… Continue reading

  • China on the Shannon

    29/10/2012

    The Wellcome Library’s exhibition of photographs of China taken by John Thomson between 1869 and 1872 is currently on show at The Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ireland. The Hunt Museum is named after John and Gertrude Hunt who presented their… Continue reading

  • To London from Kuwait

    23/10/2012

    The Wellcome Library was honoured to receive a visit yesterday from staff of the Kuwait Digital Repository at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research: Ms. Shatha D. Al-Own (Project Leader), Ms. Amani Al-Othman (Principal Investigator), Mr Muhammad Mozafar (Task Leader),… Continue reading

  • R.I.P. Chief Inspector Dreyfus

    27/09/2012

    The BBC reports the death earlier today of the actor Herbert Lom, who played the police chief in the Pink Panther films. His many other roles included parts in The Ladykillers (1955) and The Phantom of the Opera (1962). Herbert… Continue reading