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A Potato Shaking Hands with Edward Jenner, Claiming Him as a Fellow Vaccinator

Image credit: Wellcome Collection

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The potato is called Paddy Fluke because Paddy was a nickname given to Irishmen and Ireland was associated with potatoes and because a fluke was a variety of kidney potato. The potato has arms and legs and wears a blue jacket. The figure supposed to be Edward Jenner looks nothing like Jenner's portraits, being thin and bespectacled, wearing a black suit and a broad black hat. He may stand for vaccinators in general. The potato has an unhealthy complexion, yellow and lumpy, described in the lettering below the drawing as ‘waxy’.

Wellcome Collection

London

Title

A Potato Shaking Hands with Edward Jenner, Claiming Him as a Fellow Vaccinator

Date

19th C

Medium

watercolour, pen & brown ink on paper (?)

Measurements

H 9.5 x W 10 cm

Accession number

29573i

Acquisition method

purchased by the Wellcome Library from Chris Beetles, 1996

Work type

Watercolour

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Wellcome Collection

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

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