Anatomical exhibition includes rare Victorian-era drawing of a black body

Detail from the image of a black man. It was removed from the US publication of Surgical Anatomy, with racial prejudice and segregationist attitudes blamed for the decision. Illustration: Mark Newton Photography

It is an image of an unnamed black man with his eyes closed and his innards exposed. Drawn with care and precision, the image may be the only anatomical drawing of a black body made during the Victorian age.

Now it is part of a new exhibition that focuses on the work of Joseph Maclise, a surgeon and artist whose work – including his 1851 atlas Surgical Anatomy – made the human anatomy accessible to the general public, and who was the brother of the celebrated artist Daniel Maclise.