Art Historical Survey Traces Depictions of Medical Practice from 15th to 19th Centuries

An exploration of medical professionals in Western art reveals evolving practices and cultural attitudes. Peter Simon's 1785 painting "The Doctor Dismissing Death" resides at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Seventeenth-century Dutch genre scenes by Jan Steen and Adriaen Gaesbeeck, both titled "Doctor's Visit," show physicians making house calls. Surgical preparation is captured in Henri Gervex's 1887 work "Before the Operation" at the Musée d'Orsay. David Teniers the Younger painted "A Surgical Operation" between 1631 and 1640, now at the Museo del Prado. Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp's "Operation of the Magnifier" from the late 1630s is held by the Louvre. Religious dimensions of healing appear in Fernando del Rincón's circa 1510 panel "Miracles of the Doctor Saints Cosmas and Damian" and Juan de Sevilla's 1401–1435 depiction of Saint Luke, both at the Prado. Théobald Chartran created two historical medical scenes in the late 19th century for the Université de la Sorbonne. Rembrandt van Rijn's 1632 "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp" is in the Mauritshuis. Jacques-Louis David painted "Portrait of Alphonse Leroy" in 1783 for the Musée Fabre. John Singer Sargent's 1881 portrait "Dr. Pozzi at Home" is at the Hammer Museum. The article notes the historical scarcity of female doctor representations, citing only a 12th-century miniature of Hildegard von Bingen.