Art of Medicine

Art of Medicine

Art of the Herbalist

“Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat; on the other three-quarters lives their doctor.” ~ reportedly an Egyptian pyramid inscription, 3800 B.C.

Art of Medicine
For thousands of years, or probably longer, there has been more to medicine than “Take these herbs and call me in the morning”. Over the centuries medicine has also encompassed the visual arts. Where would medicine be today if we didn’t have the drawings such as those found in Gray’s Anatomy? Today that art includes photography and computer technology.
Here are links to various forms of medical art, particularly historical manuscripts, but others too, and soon art created by our own herbalist. The photographs (except for the photo of the herbalist) throughout this website were done by the herbalist too.

Art of this Herbalist - Okay, I keep promising that I’ll post some of my artwork here. Being the busy herbalist that I am I just never seem to get around to doing any new art projects... YET. So, here are some older pieces and a work that has been in progress for quite a while. Have a look by clicking on the image to the left.
I hope you like them.

The Aboca Museum - Take a look around this museum of herbal medicine, and get a bit of a taste of what it must have been like to go to the pharmacy/apothecary years ago in Europe and Italy. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have the English version of the online tour anymore, but the pictures are wonderful. However, if you go here, you can click on the different subjects down the left of the page which are about the different rooms at the museum.
They now have many historical books available to see online, which you can look at here. This is the index by topic page. From here you can click through to any of the books, where you can then go through the pages of the book by clicking on “Sfoglia libra” (forward) or “Pag. precedente” (back).
If you want to zero in on the older illuminated manuscripts, here you go:
Historia Plantarum
Scheda Libro

Digital Exhibit of some mostly sixteenth century manuscripts, including a page that depicts some of the artists that contributed to a work on herbs and medicine.
Arabic Medical Manuscripts - Take a look through these very old manuscripts, starting with this table of contents. The original exhibition was done in celebration of the 900th Anniversary of the National Library of Medicine’s oldest Arabic Medical Manuscript.
Certified Medical Illustrator - Check out Peg Gerrity’s portfolio of beautiful medical art.
The National Library of Medicine - have a look at these beautiful medieval manuscripts on the subject of medicine. The library has other manuscripts here.
The Library of Congress - Here are some more examples of manuscripts as well as an anatomical drawing. All under the title of “Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture... Medicine”
The University of Glasgow - Has this wonderful collection of medical manuscripts: “The World of Chaucer Medieval Books and Manuscripts”
Ancient Egyptian Medicine - This website shows statues, carvings, and papyrus’ on the subject of medicine and veterinary medicine in ancient Egypt.