Mission

The iconographic research database Fictional Healing has been online since 2026. It is a scholarly iconographic resource dedicated to the study of fictional surgical procedures that emerged in late medieval Europe and continued to circulate throughout the early modern period.

Bringing together the surviving corpus of these motifs, the database documents the visual tradition of fictional healing in all its diversity. Each record includes object information, transcriptions, and a concise bibliography. By assembling these works in a single research environment, the database reveals the extensive textual and visual dialogue between individual images, making it possible to trace the transmission, transformation, and development of these iconographic traditions over time.

Designed as a research tool for historians of art, literature, medicine, religion, and late medieval and early modern culture, the database provides a foundation for the comparative study of recurring motifs, their interrelationships, and their historical development.

The project originated from the collection and research of Wendy Wauters and Malcolm Jones. As of September 2026, approximately one third of the corpus is available online; the remaining material will be added during 2026-2027. The corpus will continue to expand through the integration of related collections, with the aim of creating the most comprehensive dataset possible for the study of fictional healing imagery.

Comments, additional image submissions, and general enquiries are welcome at: contact@fictionalhealing.be

Rights

Every effort has been made to identify and acknowledge copyright holders and to provide accurate rights information. If you believe that material has been included without appropriate acknowledgement, or that your rights have not been properly recognised, please contact us so that the matter can be addressed promptly.

Credits

The iconographic database is curated and administered by Dr Wendy Wauters. General enquiries are welcome at: contact@fictionalhealing.be

The technical design was implemented by Antwerp based wizard Thomas Goorden. All source code and files can be found on Github.