Thousands of years of visual culture made free through Wellcome Images

More than 100,000 images ranging from ancient medical manuscripts to etchings by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Francisco Goya are now available for free download as hi-res images on the Wellcome Images website.
Drawn from the historical holdings of the Wellcome Library, the images are being released under the Creative Commons-Attribution only (CC-BY) licence.
This means that all the historical images can be downloaded to freely copy, distribute, edit, manipulate, and build upon as you wish, for personal or commercial use as long as the source Wellcome Library is attributed.
Simon Chaplin, Head of the Wellcome Library, said: “Together the collection amounts to a dizzying visual record of centuries of human culture, and our attempts to understand our bodies, minds and health through art and observation. As a strong supporter of open access, we want to make sure these images can be used and enjoyed by anyone without restriction.”
The historical collections offer a rich body of historical images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements.
The earliest item is a 3,000 year old Egyptian prescription on papyrus, and treasures include exquisite medieval illuminated manuscripts and anatomical drawings, ranging from delicate 16th century fugitive sheets, whose hinged paper flaps reveal hidden viscera, to Paolo Mascagni’s vibrantly coloured etching of an ‘exploded’ torso.
Photography includes Eadweard Muybridge’s studies of motion, and John Thomson’s remarkable nineteenth century portraits from his travels in China.
The specialist team of researchers at Wellcome Images are available to advise and assist with sourcing and searching for images and can be contacted at images@wellcome.ac.uk.
Find out more at wellcomeimages.org.