Sir Thomas Spencer Wells (1818–1897), Bt

Sir Thomas Spencer Wells was one of the Victorian era's most celebrated surgeons, a pioneer of ovariotomy who dramatically reduced operative mortality rates through rigorous antiseptic technique. By the time Solomon Joseph Solomon painted him in 1897 — the year of Wells's death — he was in his late seventies and regarded as a founding figure of modern gynaecological surgery. Portrait commissions for distinguished medical figures often came from the medical colleges, hospitals, or scientific societies with which the subject was associated, and the painting's presence in the Wellcome Collection reflects the later twentieth century's systematic effort to document the history of medicine through art. Solomon's careful, individualised approach to portraiture was well suited to commemorating a figure whose achievements rested on precision and intellectual authority.

Oil on canvas with the careful face-modelling Solomon brought to elderly male sitters, building up convincing skin texture through layered paint. The dark formal dress typical of Victorian professional portraiture concentrates tonal interest in the face, hands, and any white collar detail.