Polyarteritis nodosa in a 50-year old man with burning sensation in his feet: sections of (a) pancreas, (b) kidney and (c) testicle showing extreme dilation and infarction due to necrosis and exudation, with formations of inflammatory nodules. Watercolour by Barbara E. Nicholson, 1954.

Ashford, Middlesex, 1954.

1 painting : watercolour, with gouache ; sheet 23.8 x 22.2 cm

Barbara Evelyn Nicholson (1906 – 1978) trained at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1923. She began her artistic career as a medical illustrator and was a founder member of the Medical Artists Association, where she is recorded as serving on an exhibition committee in October 1949. By 1951, she had illustrated G.F. Gibberd, A short textbook of midwifery (2nd ed., London: J. & A. Churchill, 1941) and Philip Wiles, Essentials of orthopaedics (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1949). The Medical Artists Association records last list her, in 1951. In the 1950s her focus moved to botanical subjects and from the late 1950s – 1970s she was a prolific botanical illustrator.

Pancreas, diated pancreatic duct, opened, testicle, kidney Lettering inscribed in black ink as key, typed accompanying note states that initial diagnosis was of pancreatic cancer. This was later changed to polyarteritis nodosa and confirmed at necropsy Bears number: 425/1954

The watercolours and pen and ink drawings held by Wellcome Collection were painted by Barbara Nicholson at Ashford Hospital, Ashford, Middlesex, between 1946 and 1951, at the request of the surgeon Norman Matheson.

Wellcome Collection 35306i

Presented to the Wellcome Institute Library in 1987 by Ashford Postgraduate Medical Centre, as part of a collection of medical illustrations by Barbara E. Nicholson.