Tsmishian painter and carver, Frederick Alexcee (ca. 1853-1944) was witness to his land rapidly changing through European territorial encroachment. Alexcee’s painting records the bay Fort Simpson, later renamed to Port Simpson, but what is the Lax-Kwʼalaams band community land in northwest British Columbia.

Alexcee trained as a halaayt carver, where he produced naxnox (spirit) paraphernalia and wood carved items for use in spiritual ceremonies. He also produced artwork for the curio-indio trade, this painting is an example of this. Henry S. Wellcome bought the painting from Alexcee during a journey that he was making down the west coast of North America in April 1917, while campaigning for the rights of the Indigenous inhabitants. The painting is painted in house-paint on embossed wallpaper, possibly salvaged from the Hudson's Bay ship the Beaver, which is shown entering the harbour on the right.

The role of knowledge in shaping our world was one of the largest themes in Wellcome's collecting, but may be difficult to understand owing to the changing definitions and appearances of knowledge in different places and periods. In the 17th century, alchemists tried to discover correspondences between what we may regard as disparate entities in nature, such as metals, blood, and the soul. Their aim was to achieve the forms of perfection appropriate to each entity, whether it be gold, the panacea, or the philosopher's stone. Alchemists were a favourite theme of Dutch painters of that time such as Thomas Wijck (1616?-1677) and Jan Steen (1626?-1679). Steen satirizes them, but in this painting (one of several by Wijck in the Wellcome collection) the alchemist is a serious scholar in possession of many learned tomes and expensive equipment.

The Wellcome Collection's interests are global, its visitors come from every continent, and its collections are inscribed in 200 languages. But it does not ignore its setting on Euston Road in London. The Wellcome Building was constructed on the northern fringe of Bloomsbury owing to its proximity to the British Museum and its Library, the University of London, and many medical and scientific institutions relevant to Wellcome's interests. The present picture shows the Wellcome Building on the right, and on the left, street bunting displayed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. Beyond the Wellcome Building are Friends House and the white tower of New St Pancras Church, both still there. Euston Square was a showcase of neo-classical architecture, in which the Ionic order of the Wellcome Building was very fitting.

As most of the paintings in the Wellcome Collection are by unnamed artists, we cannot say what proportion of the Wellcome paintings are by women, but the paintings by named women artists have much to offer. Sarah Biffin (1784-1850) was one of several artists born without arms who made a living exhibiting their talents in marketplaces and fairs throughout Britain. She became a celebrity, supported by royalty and nobility and a medallist of the Royal Society of Arts. This self-portrait was recently identified as the earliest of seven self-portraits which record her changing appearance over her long career. Painted in 1811, it was a gift to her early patron, William Stevenson, a Norwich publisher, and was bought by Wellcome when Stevenson's descendants consigned it to auction in 1919.

This is a watercolour on vellum, showing a Kraamkamer or birth chamber in the Netherlands in the mid-17th century. The new mother is sitting up in bed, and the women providing her with moral support are the "God-siblings". The custom in the Netherlands was and still is to mark the birth by passing round sweetmeats called "beschuit met muisjes", exactly as shown in the watercolour. It was probably painted by someone who was present at such an event, which, together with the watercolour technique, suggests a woman artist. It has been compared with watercolours by Gesina ter Borch (1631-1690), the sister of the painter Gerard ter Borch, who used the same technique to paint family and domestic scenes.