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A Patient at Home

© the copyright holder. Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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Commissioned by Horace Joules (1902–1977), a consultant physician at the Central Middlesex Hospital, who emphasized to medical students the importance of knowing the occupation and social background of patients. The old man in the painting was a bronchitic and arthritic patient of the hospital: he lived in Harlesden. He was painted in his hospital bed, but the room was painted from outside the window of his dwelling, as the artist was deterred from entering by the smell. She shows an interior with plaster peeling off the wall and ceiling. On the left is a fireplace, and, next to it, an open cupboard in which is possibly a pile of coals. The old man is in bed. Very close to the picture plane is a medicine bottle of "Mist. Expect.", an expectorant mixture routinely prescribed for bronchitics.

Wellcome Collection

London

Title

A Patient at Home

Date

c.1953

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 71.5 x W 91 cm

Accession number

47341i

Acquisition method

commissioned by Horace Joules; presented by Dr Keith Ball

Work type

Painting

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Wellcome Collection

183 Euston Road, London, Greater London NW1 2BE England

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