Human Brain

Illustration Description

This watercolour painting of a human brain with an enlarged pituitary gland was drawn and painted directly from a cased specimen.  The specimen was preserved in Formaldehyde within a glass case located in the teaching rooms of the Royal College of Surgeons’ England. The brain was originally sketched and then transposed onto watercolour paper ready for painting. The specimen was absent of any live tissue therefore the artist imagined what the colour would be if the brain was still living.

The Enlargement of the pituitary gland on the specimen is when a normal pituitary gland becomes bigger in size. The change in size can cause the pituitary gland to fail in its production of hormones.