A surgeon binding up a woman's arm after bloodletting. Oil painting by Jacob Toorenvliet, 1666.

  • Toornvliet, Jacob, 1635-1719.
Reference:
44999i
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view A surgeon binding up a woman's arm after bloodletting. Oil painting by Jacob Toorenvliet, 1666.

Contains: 4 images

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Credit

A surgeon binding up a woman's arm after bloodletting. Oil painting by Jacob Toorenvliet, 1666. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Bloodletting from a vein was recommended when the hot and the wet were considered excessive, either in the body as a whole or in a particular part of the body. The surgeon would typically pierce a vein with the tip of a lancet-blade, and collect the blood in a bowl. Two such bowls are shown on the table in the painting. The surgeon is either undoing a tourniquet which was used to collect the blood in the forearm, or bandaging the incision

Physical description

1 painting : oil on copper ; copper 50.4 x 39.9 cm

Lettering

J Toorenvliet inventor et fecit A. 1666

References note

Corrado Lavini, Medicina ed arti figurative: due mondi affascinanti, un rapporto profondo e complesso, Modena 2009, p. 97 (reproduced)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 44999i

Exhibitions note

Exhibited in "Medicine Man" at Wellcome Collection, 26 March - 4 November 2018

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