A standing young man, naked and viewed in full length; he appears unable to straighten his body. Photograph by L. Haase after H.W. Berend, c. 1865.

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]

1 photograph : photoprint, albumen ; image 18.5 x 14.2 cm

The same subject can be seen in catalogue number: 32235i

Photograph after H.W. Berend (1809-1873), an orthopaedic surgeon working in Berlin. The photograph is part of a collection produced by the professional photographer L. Haase who was working in Berlin at the time Berend's interest in photography was developing. The photograph was probably commissioned by Berend, and follows a similar aesthetic structuring to that of his other studies, which include pencil drawings, lithographs and woodcuts, sometimes after photographs. Berend was also probably the first German physician to employ photography as an aid to the systematic diagnoses of orthopaedic patients. It is possible that these photographs were comissioned by Berend to illustrate an atlas he was preparing, which documented his observations in a number of hospitals in Berlin. There is no record of the atlas' publication

William A. Ewing, The body: photoworks of the human form, London 1994, p. 255

Wellcome Collection 32232i