Three women in a gin shop divert the landlady's attention while a match boy steals her money. Mezzotint, c. 1765.

Thieves being tortured by snakes in the 8th circle of Hell, watched by Dante and Virgil. Etching by B. Pinelli, 1825.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a seated patient while a woman steals from his bag. Etching by J.J. van Vliet.

A chicken-thief in Yunnan Province, China, punished by being attached to a tree by his arms, watched by a crowd of people. Halftone after F.W. Carey.

Police raid a lodging house at night and arrest a convicted thief. Etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848, after himself.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a seated patient while a woman steals from his bag. Watercolour after J.J. van Vliet.

Amoy (Xiamen), Fukien province, China: a thief with his thumbs chopped off. Photograph by John Thomson, 1871.

Policemen apprehend a pickpocket taking a license from a publican; representing the value to the government of publicans' licenses. Chromolithograph by T. Merry, 1890, after himself.

A cattle thief in Siam punished by having a yoke fixed around his neck. Process print, 19--.

A drunken scene in a beer shop with a young thief gambling. Etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848, after himself.

Achan is stoned to death for stealing the spoils of the fall of Jericho. Line engraving.

1 print : halftone ; image 14.8 x 10.1 cm

1 print : line engraving ; image 11.7 x 7.5 cm

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a standing patient, who is being pick-pocketed by a woman. Line engraving after L. van Leyden, 1523.

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion : stereograph

1 process print : halftone ; image and text 17.7 x 11.7 cm

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

It's not possible to book tickets for events at present due to a problem with the ticketing system. We're working to fix it. You can still search and check information about events but please try again later if you want to book a ticket.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

Archive collection level pages, plus the archive collection treatment on the work page and in search results.

The catalogue API's shortDescription is shown on the archive collection hero and in search results.

Archive collection

Clicking an image opens its details in a sidebar instead of a modal, with the selected image highlighted in the grid.

Updated image results grid and a re-sizable viewing pane.

Larger thumbnail, plus key information and onward journey in the sidebar.

Image sidebar preview

The three thematic browsing category pages (subjects, people & organisations, types & techniques) become accessible.

Subject sub-category pages become accessible, and the subjects category page gains a sub-category menu.

Thieves

Images from the collections

Images referencing Thieves

Works from the collections

A chicken-thief in Yunnan Province, China, punished by being attached to a tree by his arms, watched by a crowd of people. Halftone after F.W. Carey.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a standing patient, who is being pick-pocketed by a woman. Line engraving after L. van Leyden, 1523.

Amoy (Xiamen), Fukien province, China: a thief with his thumbs chopped off. Photograph by John Thomson, 1871.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a seated patient while a woman steals from his bag. Watercolour after J.J. van Vliet.

A cattle thief in Siam punished by having a yoke fixed around his neck. Process print, 19--.

Thieves

Images from the collections

Images referencing Thieves

Works from the collections

A chicken-thief in Yunnan Province, China, punished by being attached to a tree by his arms, watched by a crowd of people. Halftone after F.W. Carey.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a standing patient, who is being pick-pocketed by a woman. Line engraving after L. van Leyden, 1523.

Amoy (Xiamen), Fukien province, China: a thief with his thumbs chopped off. Photograph by John Thomson, 1871.

A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a seated patient while a woman steals from his bag. Watercolour after J.J. van Vliet.

A cattle thief in Siam punished by having a yoke fixed around his neck. Process print, 19--.

Related topics