CHENNAI: Medicines cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patients. – Carl Jung. India celebrates National Doctors Day every year on July 1, in memory of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, an eminent physician who was also the personal doctor of Mahatma Gandhi. No designated day will suffice, however, to thank these angels on Earth for dedicating a lifetime to care for humanity’s sufferings. The medical profession is as old as the hills and our visual culture offers a great insight into the field of medicine through the centuries. Here’s a look at the changing landscape of medicine reflected through art.
THE DOCTOR’S VISIT
A doctor’s visit in today’s time simply means going to a clinic or a hospital. Back in the day, this was not the case. Elegantly dressed, it was the doctor who would go to the patient’s house. Dutch artist Jan Steen’s painting from 1663, titled ‘The Doctor’s Visit’, shows such a scene. Though the setting may have shifted to a hospital now, the technique of touching and observing the patient to arrive at a diagnosis still remains, though not in its primitive form.
Some of the medical treatments adopted in history may seem outrageous now, but were highly recommended earlier, as shown in some of these paintings.
BLOOD-LETTING
Bloodletting was one of the most common practices during surgery till the late 19th century. It involved drawing blood from a patient as a way of cure. It began with the Egyptians and slowly spread during the medieval times to all countries including India. Francois Broussais, a French physician from the 18th century, was a strong advocate of this treatment for all ailments. The belief was that a timely bleed could save a life. During the cholera outbreak in Paris in 1832, his treatment ended disastrously and slowly this technique lost its ground.
TOOTH EXTRACTION
One can only imagine how much a patient dreaded a visit to the dentist long ago. With no decent painkiller available, it must have been an excruciating experience. In Luciano Nezzo’s oil painting from 1856 titled ‘A tooth-drawer’, a young woman’s tooth is being extracted using dental keys. These extraction instruments were inserted into patients’ mouths to secure the tooth and then rotated to dislodge the tooth. These instruments, which were in use from the 18th to the 20th century, would often cause damage to the gums and fractures to the jaw. In this painting, the dentist conceals the instrument in order not to frighten his patient. John Collier’s ‘The Dentist’, shows the tortuous process of tooth extraction, the dentist tugs at the tooth with a string while placing his foot to immobilise the patient. Satire has been thrown in, in the form of a verse that reads thus:
He miss’d at first, but try’d again
Then clap’d his foot o’th’ chin;
He pull’d-the patient roar’d with pain,
And hideously did grin.
There were instances when treatments such as tooth extraction were performed as entertainment. ‘Sequah on Clapham Common’ painted in 1890, features what was known as an American medicine show. These shows were put up by travelling performers primarily to sell medicines. Volunteers were invited on stage to get their teeth extracted, which was a popular spectacle that, along with a brass band playing, preceded the sale of medicines. The show in the artwork was by a company called Sequah that employed around 23 performers to publicise their medicines in multiple towns. When newspaper advertisements replaced such propaganda methods, medicine shows slowly faded away.
Where are the women?
Women doctors are rarely seen in art history even though they played significant roles as midwives, nurses and practitioners of domestic medicine. Sadly, these roles were never considered worthy of a painting.
Art history’s visual representations of the medical practice and its practitioners are not just gems of information but also allow us to understand society’s changing perceptions. At the outset, though these artworks from different eras may seem widely disconnected, they are linked by the truth that the human race owes its survival to these healers who kept hope alive through the ages.
PHARMACIES
Pharmacies of yore bore resemblances to wine cellars rather than to the medical stores we see today. In the painting ‘A Pharmacy’ from 1700, the interior of a pharmacy shows jars on shelves containing medicines and raw materials to make them. These medicines were mostly made of vegetable substances and the final products were either ointments, syrups or powders. The lady customer in the shop also seems to be attired in expensive clothing which could imply that medicines were not cheap.
INDIA — THE LAND OF HEALING
Our nation has its own proud medical heritage. An Indian physician named Sushruta from the 6th century BCE, regarded as the Father of Indian Medicine, authored a book, Sushruta Samhita, which was the main source of knowledge about surgeries in ancient India. It dates back to a period before Christ and is one of the earliest treatises on medicine. He documented more than 1,000 diseases and even surgical procedures that included skin grafts and reconstruction of the nose! It is no wonder then that he was also regarded as the Father of Plastic Surgery. Sushruta had a lot of disciples who were required to study for six years before starting to train for surgery. His writings form the basis for Ayurveda even today.
TRUSTING MEDICINE
Unlike now, back in the 1600s, doctors were not completely trusted with regard to their treatment.
A painting from 1640 by David Teniers II has a doctor removing a plaster from a patient’s foot while his lady assistant heats another bandage over hot coals. A crystal ball suspended on top, clearly symbolises the incompetence of the surgeon and the gullibility of the patient. Several paintings during this period were stark representations of this mistrust. We may have come a long way in terms of trust, but new vaccines still need to fight unfounded myths. The vaccine for Covid, when first introduced, had tales woven around it that deterred the public from believing in the immunity it provided until the government made the double dose vaccination certificate a prerequisite for almost everything. An 1802 drawing by James Gillray is proof enough that every vaccine faced these hurdles before acceptance. When smallpox played havoc with human lives, English physician Edward Jenner succeeded in providing immunity by inoculating patients with cowpox. The vaccine was stiffly opposed by many who termed it an abominable practice. The drawing by Gillray shows a frightened woman sitting in a chair while Dr Jenner vaccinates her. There is a crowd waiting outside, while the room is filled with vaccinated patients who are suffering the consequences of the vaccine. A pregnant woman to the right brings out cows from her body, horns spring forth from a man’s head, while cows swell out of arms and legs. The scene is indicative of the ridicule, suspicion and challenges doctors faced to promote vaccination long before its relevance was understood by society.
DOCTORS IN ART
Dr William Price, a Welsh doctor, was known for his flamboyance and eccentricity. He introduced cremation for the dead, which was a taboo at the time. When he decided to cremate his dead infant son, he was arrested. He eventually won the case in court and thus paved the way for the Cremation Act of 1902, that made cremations legal and allowed authorities to establish crematoriums in Britain. In AC Hemming’s portrait of the doctor dated 1918, he stands with a torch of fire used as a metaphor for his beliefs.
William Cheselden, was another doctor of significance. An 18th century influential English surgeon, he has been credited with giving surgery due respect as a medical practice. Centuries ago, barbers did not just tend to the grooming of one’s scalp of hair. They also offered services such as tooth extraction, fixing fractures and so on. Their skill with sharp instruments made them the natural choice for all sorts of surgical procedures. While the physicians mostly treated the rich, the barber-surgeons were sought after by the masses. Cheselden was opposed to this and managed to establish surgery as a scientific medical profession. In a painting from 1730, he can be seen giving an anatomical demonstration using dissection.
Although Leonardo da Vinci’s name is synonymous with the Mona Lisa, the artist was known for his anatomical drawings too. He was so fascinated by anatomy that he even performed dissections. He never published his findings, but these drawings laid down the rules for medical illustrations in the centuries to come.