Introduction to the Museum Collections

A journey through the museum begins with an introduction to the Royal College of Surgeons of England's museum collections.

The Hunterian Museum, with John Hunter’s collection of 14,000 anatomical specimens at its heart, first opened in 1813. Thousands of anatomy and natural history preparations, surgical instruments, models, paintings, drawings and other objects have been added since. This space displays highlights from these collections.

Two articulated skeletons of a the same species of bird. The skeleton on the left is slightly smaller. They stand on long, substantial legs, and have small wings, a long neck and a rounded beak. They are mounted on black stands.

Skeletons of a female and a male solitaire, 1847

A seated John Hunter, almost full length, full face with his legs turned to the right. Hunter occupies the lower left hand side of the canvas, sitting in a chair with his right arm hanging loose at his side and holding a quill, while his left elbow rests on the table next to him and his left hand rests lightly on his chin. He is dressed in a coat and breeches of red velvet, with a white shirt beneath. He is wigless, and his graying hair is only loosely dressed, curling out over and behind his ears. On the table under his elbow are some loose papers, on which a series of lines which appear to branch and radiate out from his elbow are visible. Behind the papers a two-bottle inkstand, with a quill in the left hand bottle, and beyond this three books: two are closed, the third book is propped open behind them: the open pages show, on the left, a series of fore-limb bones of animals ranging from a horse (top left) to a human (bottom right), and on the right, a series of skulls ranging from a crocodile (bottom left) to human (top right). On the far right hand side of the picture at the back of the table a bell-jar covers a cast of the bronchi of the human lungs. On a mantelpiece above the table stands a glass pot containing another specimen preserved in fluid: it appears to be two pieces of bone connected by a large callous. Red colour is visible in the specimen, suggesting an injection of the blood vessels in the tissue. Finally in the top right hand corner of the canvas two large skeletal feet hang down, with the shin bones disappearing out of sight above.

John Hunter (1728–1793) by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1786

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

Angled view of a large floor-to-ceiling museum display case with pale pink outer walls and a grey back panel. The case in divided into three, with objects mounted off the backboard and on the floor of the case. In the centre there is a large oil painting of a seated man in 18th century dress (John Hunter). The painting is surrounded by bone specimens and anatomical specimens in glass jars. Objects displayed on the right include anatomical models, surgical instruments and an oil painting. Objects displayed on the right include two large articulated birds, an oil painting and various natural history specimens in glass jars.