A clyster in use. Oil painting by a French painter, ca. 1700(?).

Date:
1700
Reference:
45047i
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Credit

A clyster in use. Oil painting by a French painter, ca. 1700(?). Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

Below, an apothecary gives a clyster (enema) to a woman who bends over a bed. Above, two monkeys imitate the behaviour of the humans. A third monkey sits on the balcony over the bed holding the bonnet of another woman, which it has snatched off her head. In the background (right), a tapestry showing a rural scene, with a border of roses, and (left) a door surmounted by an overdoor painting of a landscape. In the right foreground is a close-stool (chair fitted with a chamber pot) covered with a pale blue fabric. The companion picture shows the interior of a pharmacy, with some of the same people as the present picture. See: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/d5f49acf

Publication/Creation

1700

Physical description

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 90 x 48.5 cm

References note

Robert E. Greenspan, Medicine: perspectives in history and art, Alexandria, Va.: Ponteverde Press, 2006, p. 396 (reproduced)
Corrado Lavini, Medicina ed arti figurative: due mondi affascinanti, un rapporto profondo e complesso, Modena 2009, p. 101 (reproduced)

Notes

Forms pair with: A pharmacy. Oil painting by a French painter, ca. 1700(?), Wellcome Library no. 44595i

Reference

Wellcome Collection 45047i

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