The Brain in Section

Charles Bell’s brain, coloured by hand.

Work: from The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings
Maker: Charles Bell
Date: 1802
Held by: Published London, 1802 · Wellcome Collection

Format

The full-resolution scan, colour-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.

Size

$29.00

The story

A cross section of the human brain from Charles Bell's The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings, 1802. The head is cut through the middle and seen from the side, the folds of the cerebrum and the branching of the cerebellum washed in pale rose against the grey of the skull. Bell made the drawings himself, and he went on to describe the separate functions of the nerves of the spinal cord. Photographed by the Wellcome Collection with the open book around the plate.

See it on your wall

The plate, in the room it was made for

The Brain in Section, printed large and framed — in the consulting room, the study, the library. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.

About this reproduction

A reproduction of from The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings — Charles Bell, 1802 — from the copy held by Published London, 1802 · Wellcome Collection. The source. The work is centuries out of copyright and in the public domain.
Printed faithful to that source scan. We do not re-colour it, complete it, or interpret it; the plate you receive is the plate as it survives.
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm. Framed editions sit in a box frame under acrylic, with no mount.
Colour-managed to the source; the tone of the paper and the ink is the engraver’s, not ours.
Ships in 5–10 business days.
If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.

Why our plates cost more than a poster: a poster is a mass run on wood-pulp stock, colour-corrected to whatever flattered the press that day. This is one sheet, pulled for you, at a size where the engraver’s hand is visible — the linework, the tonal work, the lettering — on a matte sheet that shows every line without glare.

From the same hand