The Doctor (painting)

The painting was commissioned by Henry Tate in 1890 as a work of "social realism" on a topic of Fildes' choosing to be displayed in the National Gallery of British Art, now known as the Tate Gallery London. Fildes was paid £3,000 for the work, a sum he felt was too small for such a painting and less than he expected for painting portraits. Two Victorian doctors, Thomas Buzzard (neurologist) and Gustavus Murray (obstetrician), have been particularly associated with the painting, as has the genre of the period in which it was painted. Fildes had the particular desire "to put on record the status of the doctor in our time". Fildes' biographer has described how the boy's death compelled Fildes to paint a picture revolving around the compassionate Dr Murray visiting his dying child. The story was confirmed later by Fildes' second son, who described this as Fildes' "quickest painted of his 'big' pictures". Fildes' experiences Documentation of Fildes' work with the homeless reveals that a child was once brought into the studio by a labourer, a scenario which prompted the painting The Widower (1876). This painting included many features later seen in The Doctor. The child's resting hand and extended arm may have been drawn from Fildes' older son. Despite reports that doctors visited Fildes in the hope of being used as models, the final painting of the doctor resembles Fildes himself. This account, however, is simply groundless because not a single contemporary reviewer mentioned this episode when the picture was first exhibited in 1891 at the Royal Academy in London and Fildes himself made no mention of Queen Victoria in his several interviews concerning the painting. Social context 18th and 19th century concerns by society of the rise of scientific medicine also could have possibly influenced the format of the painting. ==Composition==

Preparation The painting was first exhibited in 1891. Prior to completion, a number of sketches were made which are preserved at the Tate Gallery and depict various alternative compositions such as the doctor being on the right side of the canvas, the child seated rather than lying down, and different facial expressions for the doctor. Fildes built a model cottage to copy after visiting numerous cottages in north-east Scotland, ensuring that the picture included authentic detail of roof rafters, tablecloth, lampshade, and lighting. In 2002, Douglas wrote in the British Medical Journal, "So his manner is all, and Fildes captures it forever: the furrowed brow; the hand propping the firm bearded chin; the calm, concerned authority". Parents The parents are insignificant, helpless, and not central to the picture. A father gives support to his wife by extending his arm and resting his hand on her shoulder. She appears to be crying and possibly praying. He, however, is also helpless and peers on at the doctor and child. Lighting and room The artificial light from the lamp on the table and the natural rising sunlight beginning to shine through the single window suggest that the doctor has been in attendance all night. A distressed, poor, and modest family is depicted by one small carpet and the washing suspended in a small room. Two mismatched chairs, pressed together, construct a makeshift bed in the labourer's cottage. A couple of scrunched up papers lie on the floor, "most probably a filled prescription" which has been frustratingly discarded. An easily missed medicine bottle is placed in the shadow of the lamp and in close proximity to the doctor and his control, not the parents'. ==Accuracy==

Fildes stated that his choice of subject was "to put on record the status of the doctor in our own time", but his depiction of 19th-century healthcare is not entirely accurate. There is no stethoscope, microscope, sphygmomanometer, or thermometer in the picture, well-known instruments of physicians in the late 19th century which saved time. It may be that these instruments were omitted in order to show the doctors' "professional and personal commitment". Fildes does include a pestle and mortar, and a cup and a spoon, equipment used before the scientific era of medicine. It has also been pointed out that it was unlikely that a Victorian physician would make an overnight home visit to a poor family, such services being available only to the middle class and the wealthy. ==Reception and legacy==

'' cartoon by Bernard Partridge commenting on the effects of the National Insurance Act 1911 The painting caught the public's attention and toured Britain. Received with a striking admiration, there is one report of an observer who, overwhelmed at the painting, died on the spot. The painting has inspired poetry and film. In 1933, the American artist Joseph Tomanek painted a version of the painting making small changes to the composition. which in 1949 used it in their campaign against nationalised medical care as proposed by President Harry S. Truman. The image was printed on 65,000 posters and brochures with the slogan, "Keep Politics Out of this Picture". This has been described as contributing to public distrust of nationalised medical care in the United States. By contrast, in Britain it was used as the emblem for a celebration of Britain's National Health Service. As late as 1951, the painting was used in advertising for Wyeth pharmaceuticals, which repeated the story that Queen Victoria commissioned it, adding: "the pictured child recovered despite the inadequacies of her humble home–a tribute to her doctor's genius and to the progress of medical science". Since the mid-1990s, the medical humanities journals The Lancet and the British Medical Journal have revived interest in the painting, stimulating discussion about the role of the doctor. Debate on the role and status of doctors has led to the inclusion of medical humanities in medical schools, where this painting has been used as a teaching aid for medical students. The reason for the painting's popularity has been much debated. The universal sentiment associated with a doctor tending to a sick child appears simple. Ultimately, it is likely that The Doctor was hailed as iconic due to the wish to be cared for with single-minded attentiveness. ==References==