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This painting shows a chiropodist or surgeon examining a man’s left foot. The injured man, in a blue garment and light brown trousers, is on a chair holding his leg upwards. He looks at the viewers. His expression of pain, somewhat theatrical, contrasts with the rest of the figures, as well as the injured man’s own static position. The foot is not only a symbol of mobility and stability but also of human vulnerability. This painting is likely to have been painted by David Teniers, although his tutor, Adrian Brouwer, has his name captioned on the frame. David Teniers was baptised in Antwerp in 1610 and among his travels were Paris and Devon, England. He learned from his father David Teniers the elder, and Adriaen Brouwer, who was the greatest painter of genre scenes at that time.
Teniers entered the Antwerp Saint Luke’s Guild between 1632 and 1633. A close friendship between the painter and Peter Paul Rubens is apparent with Rubens being a witness in Teniers’ and Anna Brueghel wedding in 1637. He became a court painter in the early 1650s under the governance of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in the Southern Netherlands. He also painted for Charles II during his exile.
This painting has been preserved with its original frame.
Title
Surgery with Chiropodist Operating on Foot
Date
1610–1690
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 38.1 x W 54.6 cm
Accession number
60
Work type
Painting
