The Art of Medicine: Over 2000 Years of Medicine in Our Lives

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.