Public Domain Mark
You can use this work for any purpose without restriction under copyright law. Read more about this licence.
Credit
A doctor failing to hold death at bay from his patient; represented by a group of skeletal death figures one of whom is grabbing the doctor by the throat; the terrified patient looks on from the bed. Etching after S. Collings, ca. 1803. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Same lettering and same composition, but in reverse direction, as an aquatint by F. Jukes after S. Collings, published in London by R. Pollard, 1 February 1803 (not found in British Museum Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1870-1954)
Skeletons lying on the ground represent causes of death defeated by the physician: they are inscribed "Cold" and "Vapours", and his weapon is a drug-handbill headed "Preserver". More skeletons (representing causes of death) invade the room, however, and overcome the physician: they represent (from left to right) apoplexy ("Apoplexy" inscribed on banner); indulgence ("Luxury" inscribed on banner); fever ("Fever" on headband around skull); mania ("Mania" inscribed on flag); lovesickness ("L'amour. Omnia vincit amor" inscribed on banner); and despair ("Despair" on banner)
| Location | Status | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|
Closed stores |