Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/HDB/4/2/387/2
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object nameSalivary Glands, Adenoma, Portraits, Clinical subjects (visual works), Watercolours (visual works)
DescriptionDrawing of a patient following surgery to remove a tumour from the face, unsigned, 1785.
This is one of two drawings showing a 37-year old man called John Burley who had a large tumour (probably a parotid gland adenoma) on the side of his face. He was operated on by John Hunter on 24 October 1785. The tumour weighed over 4 kilograms and took twenty-five minutes to remove. Hunter later noted that Burley ‘did not cry out during the whole of the operation’. Parts of the tumour and a history of the case are preserved in the collection (see related records).
Owner/user
Sitter/subject
presented
Related objectsRCSHC/P 218RCSHC/P 217RCSHC/P 216RCSSC/HDB/4/2/387/1RCSHC/P 216 Part 1RCSHC/P 216 Part 2
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Bibliography
Page 69.
NotesThe portraits of John Burley before and after his operation are listed in William Clift's catalogue of the drawings of morbid anatomy as Drawing Nos. 98-99, page 69. Attributed by Clift to William Bell, so before 1789.
