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A Physician-Virtuoso in His Cabinet, Examining a Flask of Urine Brought by a Lady

Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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The subject and composition are characteristic of Gerard Thomas of Antwerp, but the two elongated figures of the lady and the woman holding the baby are in a different style. In a large room, on the left a man seated at a table turns to the right to look up at a flask of urine which he holds in his left hand. In the centre stands an elaborately dressed lady, presumably having brought the urine for diagnosis. Behind them, a nurse holds a young child (possibly the lady's child?). On the right, an archway joins the room to a hallway in which is a staircase leading up to the first floor: at ground floor level in the hallway a surgeon performs an operation (perhaps a tooth extraction) on a seated patient. In the right foreground are two boys: one plays with the lady's dog (its ruff is made from the same material as the bows on her shoes), while the other kneels to apply bellows to a brazier for pharmaceutical procedures.

Wellcome Collection

London

Title

A Physician-Virtuoso in His Cabinet, Examining a Flask of Urine Brought by a Lady

Date

early 18th C

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 81 x W 115.5 cm

Accession number

45024i

Acquisition method

purchased by Henry S. Wellcome, c.1900–1936

Work type

Painting

Wellcome Collection

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

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