Medical Artists

The Queen’s Hospital had several artists working to document the early plastic surgery work being undertaken there. They were some of the first organised medical illustrators.

There were three artists; Henry Tonks, the best known, whom Gillies had encountered at Aldershot and was himself a qualified surgeon; Daryl

Lindsay, an Australian from a renowned artistic family and Herbert Cole, a New Zealander.  Tonks worked in pastel, the other two in watercolour.  Gillies was keen that colour should be used to illustrate the nature of raw wounds, infection and the lividity of burns. Tonk’s images in the Royal College of Surgeon’s collection, and forming part of the patient case records, amply demonstrate this.

The hospital also had a resident sculptor, John Edwards, and a photographer.

Read about Henry Tonks and his Medical Illustrations

 Find out more about artists illustrating plastic surgery