Wednesday 17 – Friday 19 September 2025

Explore the historical links between art, medicine and pharmacy in the capital through this immersive short course set across six London museums and galleries across three days in September 2025.

Wednesday 17 September 2025

You will spend a morning at Apothecaries’ Hall in Blackfriars, the oldest extant Livery Hall in the City of London, which has served the medical and pharmaceutical communities for over four hundred years. Attendees will enjoy a lecture led by Andrew Wallington-Smith on the stunning collection of stained glass at the Hall and a tour focussed on portraiture and the Hall’s notable Armada Painting. There will also be displays of ceramic pharmacy jars, botanical illustrations and archives relating to the Hall’s painting collections.

The focus for the afternoon session will be ceramics and participants will be hosted by the Museum of the Order of St John at St John’s Gate. The museum tells the unique and fascinating story of an ancient religious military order, from its origins caring for sick pilgrims in eleventh-century Jerusalem, through to its modern-day role with St John Ambulance. The visit will include a specialised tour of the museum led by curator Rebecca Raven and a talk by Elisa Sani, who published Italian Maiolica and Other Early Modern Ceramics in the Courtauld Gallery in 2023. Elisa will speak on ‘From Venice to Malta – pharmacy jars for the knights of the Order of St John’.

Thursday 18 September 2025

Participants will begin the day at the Science Museum in South Kensington. They will hear from Selina Hurley, Curator of Clinical and Research Medicine, and Rebecca Mellor, Curator of Art and Visual Culture, about the ways in which art are used to communicate in medicine – from advertising to art commissions. Following a short talk, there will be a tour of Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries, exploring the works of five artists who worked closely with curators to create unique pieces for visitors to enjoy.

The afternoon session will be hosted by the Royal College of Surgeon’s Hunterian Museum at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Dawn Kemp, Director of Museums and Special Collections, will give a talk introducing art in the Hunterian, with a focus on new research. Participants will have time to explore the museum and its collections, with expert staff on hand. There will also be a talk by Bruce Simpson on War, Art and Surgery with a focus on the work of First World War surgeon-artist, Henry Tonks.

Friday 19 September 2025

The day will start at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum in Smithfield with a tour of the museum’s collections led by Catherine Walker, Museum Manager. Participants will be able to explore the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s collections of Herbals, in a session led by Karen Horn, Librarian. Over time, medicine and pharmacy have provided caricaturists with a wealth of material. Bizarre treatments, exaggerated medical conditions and massive doses of pills have all provided artistic fodder. This will be explored in a talk by Briony Hudson, Independent Pharmacy Historian: ‘An Art to Cure: Pharmacy in Caricatures’.

The final afternoon will be spent at Bethlem Museum of the Mind in Beckenham.

The museum records the lives and experiences and celebrates the achievements of people with mental health problems. Its art collection comprises around 1,000 works, including paintings, drawings, ceramics and textiles. David Luck, Archivist, will provide an overview of the history of Bethlem Royal Hospital, founded in 1247. Colin Gale

Museum Director will introduce the museum displays, with artists ranging from well-known Bethlem patients such as Richard Dadd and Louis Wain to McGlashan, the otherwise unknown creator of the Little Traveller. There will be free time to explore the museum and an artwork analysis workshop based on William Kurelek’s ‘The Maze’.

Travel between the locations is not included but information will be provided on public transport options. Participants can also choose to travel with the medical and pharmacy historians leading each day.’

Prices 
1 day (17th/18th/19th September): £125
2 day (any combination): £225
3 day rate: £300

Click here to reserve your place.

Due to capacity of some of the venues, we are limited to just 25 places per day. Participants can select to attend the full three days; a combination of two days; or a single day of their choice.

Coutesy of the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, we are able to offer a subsidised rate for up to 8 places per day for students (those in full time or part time education as of 17 September 2025). Contact Matt AcademicTraining@apothecaries.org for more information.