William Wadd's clinical studies and portraiture

Abstract

In his time, William Wadd (1776-1829) was a well-known and well-respected surgeon and writer. He was also a very good visual artist who made his own anatomical illustrations. The subject of this paper is a set of drawings by Wadd in the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The drawings appear to be clinical studies, but what is most striking about them is the way in which they make use of the conventions of portraiture from that time. In an era before standardised, artistically neutral illustrations, they provide an excellent example of how medicine and the fine arts were interrelated in the production of knowledge.

Keywords: British art; William Wadd; medical humanities; medical illustration; portraiture.