How you can use this image
Public Domain
This image has been assigned a Public Domain Mark and is free to use with unrestricted use.
Please acknowledge the Collection who own the work with a photo credit — this helps spread the word about their resources.
To learn more about images and rights, please see our image use page.
DownloadNotes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
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.
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
