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What's On

Free entry - booking recommended

Tuesday to Saturday: 10am – 5pm

The painting shows a man, facing to the left of the picture, sitting up in an iron-framed bed. He is wearing a clean white nightcap and nightgown and is propped up by two pillows, also in clean white covers. The sheets of the bed are turned down, and the lower part of the bed is covered by a quilted blanket made up of triangular patches of yellow, red, white and black fabric. On this quilt rests a red army uniform jacket with a white chevron on the lower part of the sleeve and a yellow cuff. A silver medal with a pale blue ribbon edged in gold is attached to the breast of the jacket. On top of the jacket is a dark infantryman's shako - a kind of cylindrical hat with a peak - which has '95' and a red and gold badge featuring a curved horn. The man holds a small section of red and black quilt in his left hand, and his right is pulling a needle and thread from the top of the piece he is stitching. On the sheet in front of him are scissors and more triangular sections of cloth. The colours of the quilt are the same as those of the uniform.

Private Thomas Walker, by Thomas William Wood, 1856

All exhibitions and events

  • The Hunterian Museum

    The Hunterian Museum, named after the 18th century surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793), reopened at the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s headquarters at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in central London in May 2023.

    Exhibition

    From 16th May 2023

  • Drawing of the palmar and dorsal views of the bones of the left hand. The carpal bones are numbered 1-8, with the metacarpals and phalanges lettered A-I

    Hunterian Drawing Club #2

    Event

    30th April 2024
    11:00–16:00

    Book now