The Anatomy Lesson with Dr. George Rolleston

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) is best known by his pen name Lewis Carroll and as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He was also a mathematics don at Christ Church, Oxford and a highly accomplished amateur photographer. He was particularly skilled at photographing his many 'child-friends' but also made numerous portraits of adults, including his Oxford colleagues.

Dodgson made this group portrait in the Anatomical Museum at Christ Church in 1857. Gathered around the skeleton of a fish are, from left to right, Dr. George Rolleston (1829-1881), professor of anatomy; William (or Charles?) Robertson, demonstrator of anatomy; and undergraduates Augustus Vernon Harcourt (1835-1919) and Heywood Smith (b.1838). This print, possibly on printing-out paper, was probably created by re-photographing an original albumen print of the image. Donated to the museum by the granddaughters of Augustus Vernon Harcourt (a chemistry don at Christ Church from 1859 to 1902), it is likely to have been made by one family member for another around the time of Harcourt's death.