Operation to remove hernia from a female patient, showing the incision (above the pubis) after the completed operation, tying up the hernia sac and sewing up the abdominal lining. Pencil drawing by Barbara E. Nicholson, 1947.

Ashford, Middlesex, 1947.

1 pencil drawing : watercolour wash, with gouache and black ink ; sheet 8.9 x 9.1 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.

D Lettering inscribed in black ink as key, typed accompanying note describes the operation in four steps as A. K. Henry's suprapubic extra-peritoneal operation and gives detailed information on the ligaments represented Bears number: 76/1947

Closed until 01/01/2033

Wellcome Collection 32190i

Barbara E. Nicholson 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. She also illustrated published books on flowers. The Medical Artists Association records last list her, in 1951, as resident at Berwick St John, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The collection of Barbara Nicholson's watercolours and pen and ink drawings were painted at Ashford Hospital, Ashford, Middlesex, at the request of the surgeon Norman Matheson between 1946 and 1951, and were presented to the Wellcome Institute Library in 1987 by Ashford Postgraduate Medical Centre.

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.