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Primary sourcePainting1854

Lithograph of Florence Nightingale, 1854

1854

A pen-and-ink style lithograph from 1854 showing Florence Nightingale standing beside a wounded patient in a hospital ward.

This lithograph, made during the Crimean War, shows Nightingale at work in a military hospital ward.

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Pen-and-ink sketch of a hospital ward. A woman in a long dark dress stands at right beside a wounded man seated on a bed. Other patients lie in beds along the left, and more beds are visible through a doorway at right. Handwritten numbers appear at upper left.
Florence Nightingale, lithograph, 1854. Wellcome Collection.

About this source

What it is

This is a lithograph dated 1854, held by the Wellcome Collection, made during the period of the Crimean War. It shows a woman in a long dark dress, understood to be Florence Nightingale, standing in a hospital ward beside a wounded man seated on a bed, with other patients visible in beds nearby.

Why it matters

This image was produced at the very time Nightingale was becoming known for her work nursing wounded soldiers. Such prints helped spread her reputation across Britain as news of the Crimean War and the conditions in military hospitals reached the public.

Look closer

  • What details in the ward suggest the conditions patients lived in?
  • Why do you think images like this were popular with the public at the time?
  • What can't you tell about the real hospital from a single drawing like this?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Florence Nightingale on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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