A physician being tormented with medical and surgical treatments by grotesque figures representing his former patients. Coloured etching by R. Newton, 1792, after G.M. Woodward.
- Woodward, G. M. (George Moutard), approximately 1760-1809.
- Date:
- Nov.r 11 1792
- Reference:
- 2491101i
- Pictures
About this work
Description
He is having blood let from his right arm: the operator has opened an artery by mistake. Left foreground, a tormentor points to a basket of surgical instruments (saw, knives, tourniquets). Left background, one tormentor with a medicine bottle, the other pouring medicine into a bowl. Left of the doctor, one man points to his missing nose, another complains about his damaged stomach. Right background, the doctor is offered a pill which he looks at with misgivings
Publication/Creation
[London] (No. 50 Oxford St.) : W. Holland, Nov.r 11 1792.
Physical description
1 print : etching, with aquatint and watercolour ; platemark ca. 47.5 x 41 cm
Lettering
A doctor in Purgatory! G.M. Woodward delin. Aquatint by J. Hassell. Etch'd by R. Newton.
Below, a verse from Samuel Garth's 'The dispensary': "Those spectres seam'd with scars, that threaten there, The victims of my late ill conduct are. They vex, with endless clamours, my repose. This wants his stomach, that demands his nose, And here they execute stern Pluto's will. And ply me every moment with a pill. (Vid Dr Garth's poem of The dispensary, canto VI)"
References note
Not found in: British Museum Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1870-1954 (but in the British Museum online catalogue)
Reference
Wellcome Collection 2491101i
Type/Technique
Languages
Where to find it
Location Status Access Closed stores