Skip to main content Skip to navigation
The Bell Brothers and the Art of Surgical Anatomy

Introduction

At the turn of the 19th century, Scottish brothers John and Charles Bell set out to reform medical education and thus, medicine. Through their work as teachers of surgery and anatomy and as writers of medical textbooks, they aimed to give students an experience-based education that they could apply to their future careers as physicians and surgeons. What made the Bells' work especially unique was their skills as artists, which they used to illustrate their own books. Combining their knowledge of anatomy, their real-world experience as surgeons, and their clear and realistic artistic styles, the Bell brothers presented anatomy and surgery from a practical perspective, encouraging their students to apply this knowledge to their own practices. 

Credits

Curated and designed by Katie Lattal, MA, Special Collections Librarian, and Emma Florio, MLIS, Archives & Research Specialist.

Brothers John and Charles Bell were born into an accomplished Edinburgh family. Their father Reverend William Bell died when they were young, leaving their mother Margaret to raise them.  

John and Charles each had successful careers as teachers of surgery and anatomy, as practicing surgeons, and as artists who illustrated their own medical works. Explore this exhibit to learn how the work they did as artists contributed to their overall goals of improving the teaching and practice of medicine.Oil portrait of John Bell holding a book and seated next to a human skull on a table

John Bell 

  • Born in 1763 in Edinburgh, Scotland
  • MD from University of Edinburgh, 1779  
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1786  
  • Started his own school of anatomy in Edinburgh  
  • Had the most successful surgical practice in Scotland  
  • Regarded as the father of applied surgical anatomy
  • Died in 1820 in Rome, Italy 

 

Charles BellOil portrait of Charles Bell holding eyeglasses and a book

  • Born in 1774 in Edinburgh, Scotland  
  • Studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh  
  • Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1799  
  • Taught surgery and anatomy in London  
  • Involved in founding King's College London and University College London's medical school  
  • Known for studying the nervous system and for describing Bell's palsy, a type of facial paralysis  
  • Died in 1842 in Hallow, England 

 

The Scottish Enlightenment 

Scotland was one of the centers of the Enlightenment, the intellectual and philosophical movement that swept through Western Europe in the 18th century. Its proponents valued human reason and skepticism over dogmatic religious tradition and emphasized the pursuit of empirical scientific knowledge to benefit the individual and society.