Louis (Ludwig) de Wette, physician of Basel. Oil painting by Amalia de Wette-Jersing, 1843.

Louis (Ludwig Wilhelm Martin Leberecht) de Wette was born in Berlin, the son of the well-known theologian Wilhem Martin Leberecht de Wette (1780-1849), after whom the present De-Wette Schule and the De Wette-Strasse in central Basel are named. Louis's Basel Inaugural-Dissertation, Luxationes experimentis illustratae, was published in 1835. In 1837 he visited the USA and Canada and published an account of his journey the following year. Between 1851 and 1884 Ludwig occupied official positions as medical officer to the city of Basel (Physikatsgeschäfte), maintained a private practice, and was for a time (like his father) a teacher at Basel university, specialising in forensic medicine. In his time as medical officer, major epidemics broke out in Basel (cholera in 1855, typhoid in 1865-1867, several smallpox outbreaks). He was a promoter of vaccination, introduced vaccination of animals into Switzerland, and founded a vaccine institute. He published papers on the necessity of autopsies, cholera quarantine, sewage works, and other subjects. In 1860-1861 he was the first president of the Medizinische Gesellschaft Basel (information from Buess and Labhardt, loc. cit.)

The painting has the directness and homeliness of Biedermeier art and is in its original Biedermeier frame: among features relevant to the style, it is painted by his wife; she describes his embroidered waistcoat with extraordinary detail; his expression is intense; and he wears a great-cloak with a chain at the neck unfastened, as when coming in from the snow and sitting down at home on a Friday to read the newspaper. In the painting he holds the Basler Zeitung dated 13 January 1843 (a Friday)

In the background, books including "Climique [sic] médicale", 1834, i.e. G. Andral, Clinique médicale, ou Choix d'observations recueillies à la clinique de M. Lerminier, médecin à l'hôpital de la Charité... et publiées sous ses yeux par G. Andral fils, of which there are several editions, each in several volumes (3rd edition was published in 1834, 4th ed. in 1839-1840). Adjacent is a book with title beginning "Krankheiten" and author approximately "Iunken" (or similar): not identified.

Above the other books is a book with title "Kanal[isation]" or "Kanal[isierung]", meaning drainage and sewerage. According to J. von Simson, Kanalisation und Städtehygiene im 19. Jahrhundert, Düsseldorf 1983, 1842-1843 was a great time for drainage and sewerage: there were dozens of publications on it in those years, related to the Anglo-German controversy over William Lindley's proposals for the construction of drains and sewers in Hamburg. However, none of the German publications which Von Simson cites from the 1840s call it "Kanalisierung" or anything similar. They call it Entwässerung, Siehlbau, Siehlsystem, Sielanlage etc. The earlest title that mentions a "Kanal" word is an article from 1858 (O. Ziwek, Die Kanalisirung, Berlin 1858), i.e. much later than this portrait. De Wette's book may therefore be a bound volume of offprints labelled with a German version of the French word "canalisation"

1843

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas approximately 74.52 x 60.3 cm

Frame inscribed: Dr Louis de Wette 1812-87. Oon [sic] seiner Frau'n gemalt. 1845

H. Buess and E. Labhardt (edd.), Zur Erinnerung an des hundertjährige Bestehen der medizinischen Gesellschaft Basel, Riehen, Switzerland, 1961, pp. 14, 16-28

Wellcome Collection 45864i

Forms a pair with a self-portrait of the wife of the present sitter (no longer in the same collection as the present painting). She was identified as Frau Dr De Wette-Jersing (1816-1895), and the painting as painted by herself in 1845 (oil on canvas 29" x 23" in 3" gilt period frame), i.e. the same size as her portrait of her husband