John Bland-Sutton (1855-1936)
Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/P 22
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object nameOil paintings, Portraits
TitleJohn Bland-Sutton (1855-1936)
DescriptionPortrait of John Bland-Sutton by John Collier, signed, c.1926.
Three-quarter length to right, seated, his rams resting on the arms of his chair, which is upholstered in yellow and red fridges. He wears the President’s red and gold gown over a black suit, with white shirt, upstanding white collar, and black tie striped with grey.
The son of a market gardener, John Sutton (he changed his name by deed-poll in 1899) was inspired by his father's amateur interest in taxidermy to pursue a medical career. He worked to pay his own way through medical school, and also worked at Thomas Cooke's anatomy school in Brunswick Square, the last of London's private anatomical schools. A determined and able student, he was soon elected Anatomy Demonstrator at the Middlesex Hospital and in 1881 was appointed prosector and pathologist to the Zoological Society, in which he retained a lifelong interest. He was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1881, a fellow of the college in 1884 and in 1886 was appointed assistant surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital. In 1892 he won the College's Jacksonian prize and in 1896 was appointed surgeon to the Chelsea Hospital for Women. Bland-Sutton became known as the leading exponent of gynaecological surgery of the day, though some aspects of his work attracted the criticism of his contemporaries. In 1886 Bland-Sutton married Agnes Hobbs (d. 1898). In 1899 he re-married, and with his new wife Edith (1865-1943) he built an Assyrian-style columned hall at his home in Brook Street, London. Bland-Sutton was knighted in 1912 and was created a baronet in 1925. He was first president of the Association of Surgeons (1919) and also President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England from 1923 to 1925.
Production date 1926
presented
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionOil on canvas, 132cm by 106cm.
