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| Artist | After Dou, Gerrit (Dutch painter and draftsman, 1613-1675) |
| Title | A Surgeon Extracting a Tooth |
| Date earliest | 1672 |
| Date latest | about 1850 |
| Material | oil on metal |
| Measurements | 16.5 x 12 cm (estimate) |
| Inscription | front lc '1672' |
| Description | A surgeon who is holding an extracted tooth is standing next to a figure sitting at a table and who is holding his finger to his mouth to demonstrate that he has just had his tooth extracted. On the table in front of the surgeon is a lancet case and lid. The work is a copy of a painting by Gerrit Dou of 1672 - an artist who painted a number of works depicting surgeons extracting teeth from their patient. The paper and other objects jutting over the ledge into the viewer’s space was a device first used in the Renaissance and again common in Dou's work. There is a date inscribed on the cloth of 1672. |
| Subject | figure; interior; still life; everyday life |
| Collection | Wellcome Library |
| Current accession number | 44614i |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by Henry Solomon Wellcome 1936. |
| Notes |
The original of this painting is in the Hanfstengl Collection, München KGL, Galerie Dresden or Dresden Kgl Gemäldegalerie. The Wellcome painting might be signed on the lower front centre on the cloth. The picture is oval in shape although the original work is signed on the centre piece of paper and is rectangular. Although the work is dated this might not be correct. The work is not of high quality and the figures indicate that the work might be from the eighteenth rather than the seventeenth century. Purchased as lot 75/8. The curator believes that this work was a souvenir from a visit abroad. |
| Rights status | (c) The Wellcome Trust |
| Author | Dr Madeleine Korn |
