Art Institute of Chicago

The Physician Considered as God, plate one from Allegories of the Medical Profession.

Unknown Artist (Dutch, active 16th century)

Date

1587

Medium

Engraving on paper

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This anonymous engraving after Hendrick Goltzius depicts a seemingly omnipotent doctor analyzing a urine flask. The two competing paths of contemporary medicine appear in the background throughout the series. On the left, a more theoretical medical doctor attends a sickbed, while on the right, a practical surgeon tends to a man with broken limbs from a fall (the accident appears through the window). The central physician figure undergoes a transformation in plates two through four, progressing from an angel (when his patient improves slightly), to a man (when he has nearly cured his charge), and finally to a devil (when he proposes his fee).

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