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Credit
A public square in a French port, in which a medicine vendor cries up his wares to an audience of traders and strollers. Coloured aquatint by J. Léveillé, 1785, after A. Borel. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
The medicine vendor stands on the right, in front of his stand. He wears decorative clothes and holds up a flask of his medicine. In front of him are his props: conjuring equipment, musical instruments, tame animals. Among the crowd watching him are a well-dressed couple, he old and using a quizzing glass, she younger and surreptitiously passing a billet doux to a lover. Others among the spectators are from Turkey or the Levant
Right background, three wooden houses containing shops: left to right a coffee house (presumably "[Ca]fé"), a house advertising a tightrop walker ("Grands danseur du Roy"), and a shop ("Magazin de modes") selling fashionable knicknacks (fans, hats, vases, clocks etc.) Right foreground, some bales and goods traded at the port
Left, the port, with a statue of a woman personifying Hope and Plenty. Behind and centre, a substantial stone building, presumably a customs house
The medicine vendors' banner contains lettering "Par permission du Roy" and a painting of the medicine vendor treating a seated lady, possibly by laying on of hands
| Location | Status | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|
Closed stores |