KALAMAZOO, Mich.—An art historian with a new analysis of medieval medical imagery has been awarded Western Michigan University’s Otto Gründler Book Prize, one of the University’s top honors for medieval scholarship.
Dr. Jack Hartnell
Dr. Jack Hartnell, an honorary associate professor of art history at the University of East Anglia in England and head of research at the National Gallery, London, earned the award for his book “Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image” (Princeton University Press, 2025). The book examines medieval diagrams depicting wounded human bodies and shows how they functioned as shared reference points for medicine, art, religion and daily life.
Hartnell traces the “wound man” image from late medieval Bohemia across Europe and into Japan, demonstrating how it was used not only by surgeons and patients but also by writers, philosophers, artists and theologians. Judges praised the book for revealing how a single visual tradition carried knowledge across centuries while remaining accessible to a broad scholarly audience.
“This book is meticulous, fascinating and intellectually generous,” the prize committee wrote, citing Hartnell’s ability to integrate art history, medical history and cultural analysis into a clear, cohesive study.
The committee also highlighted Hartnell’s treatment of images as central sources rather than supporting illustrations, noting how his analysis shows diagrams being copied, adapted and reinterpreted over time. By placing medieval surgical images in a global and long-term context, “Wound Man” demonstrates the continued relevance of medieval scholarship to modern questions of knowledge and communication, the judges said.
Established in 1997, the Otto Gründler Book Prize—named for the late Otto Gründler, longtime director of WMU’s Medieval Institute—recognizes an outstanding monograph on a medieval subject by a scholar from any country. The award includes a $1,000 cash prize and is announced annually at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, held in May on Western’s campus.
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