Phrenological chart with portraits of historical figures and illustrations of skulls exhibiting racial characteristics. Lithograph by G. E. Madeley, authored by C. Donovan, c. 1850.

Date:
c. 1850
Reference:
27927i
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Description

Three perspectives of skulls in centre showing phrenological classifications of the faculties of the brain. Three busts at top, left to right: Johann Christoph Spurzheim, Franz Joseph Gall and George Combe. Portraits, from top left downwards, then top right downwards: "Scott. Napoleon. Lord Bacon. Byron. Franklin. Shakspeare". Skulls from middle left anti-clockwise: "Caucasian. Mongolian. Negro. Cat. Ouran-outang. Idiot. Baboon. Dog. New Hollander. India. Carib."

Publication/Creation

London (356 Strand) : H. Renshaw, c. 1850 (3 Wellington St., Strand : Madeley litho.)

Physical description

1 print : lithograph ; border 49.6 x 36.4 cm

Contributors

Lettering

Coombs' new phrenological chart. Revised and corrected by C. Donovan. Principal of the London Phrenological Institution, 371, Strand ...

Reference

Wellcome Collection 27927i

Creator/production credits

Cornelius Donovan was "a 'practical' professor of phrenology [in the] 1840s-1870s ... He established the London School of Phrenology/London Phrenological Institute (Feb 1840), Strand (later Trafalgar Square)" (R. Cooter, Phrenology in the British Isles, London 1989, p. 101). This chart follows Combe's system almost exactly, and includes a section on the influence of the size of the skull under each 'faculty' heading

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