An Operation for Stone in the Head

Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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Notes

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Pictures of a surgeon making an incision in a patient's head in order to extract a stone were first collected by Henry Meige, who called the subject 'pierre de tête'. The pictures do not record an actual operation, but are allegorical scenes referring to the subduction of 'folly' (madness) from the body as if it were something that could be cured by surgery.
Title

An Operation for Stone in the Head

Medium

oil on wood

Measurements

H 70 x W 96.3 cm

Accession number

44860i

Acquisition method

purchased by Henry S. Wellcome, c.1900–1936

Work type

Painting

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Wellcome Collection

183 Euston Road, London, Greater London NW1 2BE England

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