Students from the Art History department at University College London visit the Wellcome Library for an MA course on "Early Modern Horror". It is taught by Dr Maria H. Loh (far left), and looks with critical attention at sixteenth- and seventeenth-century representations of horror: works specifically designed to elicit fright, confusion, terror, pity, and/or pain from the spectator.
As well as considering anatomical prints using vanitas motifs, and anatomical figures in the form of the Farnese Hercules and Laocoon, the students had a chance to consider and comment on this recently conserved painting of a head composed of writhing écorché figures, composed in the manner of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (right: Wellcome Library no. 44576i).
Classes, seminars and tours with expert interpretation can be provided at the Wellcome Library for undergraduate and graduate courses, extramural and diploma courses, and special interest groups. Recent visiting groups have come from King's College London, University of Kent at Canterbury, Institute of Historical Research, University of Wisconsin-Stout, University of Aberystwyth, Christie's Education, and Birkbeck University of London. To arrange a visit, please email: librarygroupvisits@wellcome.ac.uk.
Titled 'History of Medicine in Motion', the project aimed to "showcase and explore digital media presentations of the History of Medicine. In piloting new formats for delivering scholarly content and offering training in their development, the aim is to provide a platform for discussing the opportunities, problems and challenges that these media may hold for the dissemination of scholarly research".
'History of Medicine in Motion' utilised the knowledge of Prof Shigehisa Kuriyama, Harvard University, a skilled advocate in both using such resources in his teaching and in his encouragement of his students to do the same.
The project's concluding workshop, reviewed clips on the History of Medicine, submitted through an online competition.
The standard of the clips was extremely high, and given the content freely available from the Wellcome Library, it wasn't surprising that our resources featured heavily. Indeed, first prize went to Harriet Palfreyman's 'Picturing the Pox: A (Very) Brief History', which consisted entirely of images from our collections.
The workshop was a clear success, and all the clips that were submitted are worthy of attention. (Though twoclips in particular, catch the eye of this blog).
