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An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting after Adriaen Brouwer, 1605 or 1606-1638.

An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting. 17th century

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 92.6 x 151.2 cm

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting after Theodor Rombouts.

From the 16th century to the early 20th century there are paintings and other records of performers whose acts consisted in part of tooth extractions. In the 17th century, travelling actors worked in troupes as a support act to specialist tooth-drawers who themselves formed part of the entertainment. These operators often had craft skills, experience, and expensive instruments such as those shown on the table in this painting. Because they worked outside the guild system of locally established surgeons, the latter often tried to protect their own business by dubbing the interlopers as charlatans or quacks and taking them to court. However, these travelling performers carried out a useful service, were often brilliant entertainers, and were therefore a very popular and welcome presence at fairs and markets In this painting, the leader of the troupe, near the centre,  performs or pretends to perform a tooth extraction. He is surrounded by his companions who pretend to be casual bystanders. The man in the right foreground is being gulled by all the other people, who attempt to get him to volunteer to have a bad tooth extracted, or to buy a medicine from them to ease the pain. Caravaggesque paintings usually illustrate some illusion or deception such as pickpocketing or card-sharping which the viewer of the painting can see but the victim in the painting cannot. The resulting dramatic irony provides the subject of the picture Theodor Rombouts (1597-1637) was a Flemish painter who worked in Italy where he learnt the Caravaggesque technique of composing horizontal groupings of half-length figures in action, as here. This is his best known composition: there are versions in Madrid, St Omer, and Prague as well as the present version, it was engraved twice, and it was adapted in the eighteenth century by the Antwerp painter Joseph Horemans

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 1.138 x 1.96 m.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

1 print : line engraving and etching ; platemark 33.7 x 26 cm

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Engraving by A. Paul after T. Rombouts.

Paintings and other records from the 16th to the early 20th centuries capture performers in action. In the 17th century, travelling actors worked in troupes as a support act to specialist tooth-drawers who were themselves part of the act. These operators often had craft skills, experience, and expensive specialist instruments, like those shown on the table in this painting. Because they worked outside the guild system of locally established surgeons, the latter often tried to protect their own business by dubbing the interlopers as charlatans or quacks and taking them to court. However, the travelling dentists performed a useful service, were often brilliant entertainers, and were therefore a very popular and welcome presence at fairs and markets. 



In this painting, the leader of the troupe, near the centre, is a roving dental specialist, performing or pretending to perform a tooth extraction. He is surrounded by his companions who pretend to be casual bystanders. The composition was the invention of the short-lived Flemish painter Theodor Rombouts (1597-1637). He had worked in Italy where he learnt the technique (called Caravaggesque) of composing horizontal groupings of half-length figures in action, as here. Such paintings usually illustrate some illusion or deception: here the man in the right foreground is being gulled by all the other people, in an attempt to get him to volunteer to have a bad tooth extracted, or to buy a medicine to ease the pain.

An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting by an unidentified painter, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

Bible. O.T. Genesis 22.9-13. The ram is in the bushes on the right. The two men depicted on the left are referred to in Genesis 22.3

1 print : line engraving ; image 37.6 x 41.1 cm

The angel intervenes as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. Engraving by S.A. Bolswert, c. 1620, after T. Rombouts.

1 print : line engraving ; image 35.4 x 50.6 cm

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Line engraving by M. Salvador Carmona, 1805, after T. Rombouts.

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 41 x 50 cm

Tooth extraction. Oil painting attributed to a member of the Horemans family.

viii. 190 pages, 1 leaf, 79 pages, 2 leaves, 68 pages : 2 engr. folded maps ; (8vo)

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An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting. 17th century

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting after Theodor Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Engraving by A. Paul after T. Rombouts.

An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting by an unidentified painter, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

The angel intervenes as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. Engraving by S.A. Bolswert, c. 1620, after T. Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Line engraving by M. Salvador Carmona, 1805, after T. Rombouts.

Tooth extraction. Oil painting attributed to a member of the Horemans family.

Voyages and discoveries in South-America. The first up the River of Amazons ...

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An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting. 17th century

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting after Theodor Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Oil painting, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Engraving by A. Paul after T. Rombouts.

An operator extracting a tooth. Oil painting by an unidentified painter, 16--, after Theodor Rombouts.

The angel intervenes as Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. Engraving by S.A. Bolswert, c. 1620, after T. Rombouts.

A troupe of travelling performers including a toothdrawer. Line engraving by M. Salvador Carmona, 1805, after T. Rombouts.

Tooth extraction. Oil painting attributed to a member of the Horemans family.

Voyages and discoveries in South-America. The first up the River of Amazons ...

Be the first to know

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