Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2016.

The Surgeon

Artist David Teniers the Younger (Flemish, 1610 - 1690)

CultureFlemish

Date1670s

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Support: 22 1/2 x 29 in. (57.2 x 73.7 cm)
Overall, Frame: 32 1/4 x 38 1/2 in. (81.9 x 97.8 cm)

InscribedSigned lower left: "D. TENIERS. FEC."

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.480

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 206

DescriptionThis oil on canvas painting depicts a scene in which two men are being treated by a surgeon. In the foreground, one man grimaces as the surgeon digs into his back . In the background, a faint and weak looking man being attended to by one of the surgeon's unskilled assistants. The figures are surrounded by the surgeon's potions and animal skeletons, as well as a monkey in the bottom corner..

Label TextDavid Teniers the Younger Flemish, 1610–1690 The Surgeon, 1670s Oil on canvas Is there a doctor in the house? Not in this one. The medic in this picture is a lowly barber surgeon, a quack who preyed on the ignorant and poor. Surrounded by his potions and aided by two dimwitted assistants, he operates on a patient’s back, ignoring his painful yelp. The monkey crouching nearby is an age-old symbol of foolishness. He “apes” the patient’s pose, suggesting that the man is chained to the ignorant belief that the barber surgeon will cure him. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.480 ProvenanceMarquis de Balleuil, Paris; Ernest de Weerth, Paris; Helen Baltzell de Weerth, Paris; Ernest W.A. de Weerth, Baltimore, 1941-1949; Acquavella Galleries, New York, 1949; Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Museum at Provincetown; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"A Century of Baltimore Collecting, 1840-1940," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1941. (Exhib. cat. pp. 52-53). "Dutch Old Masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Art Gallery of the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, march 17 - April 14, 1950. (Exhib. cat. no. 16). "Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," The Virginia Museum of Arts, Richmond, VA, Oct. 19 - Nov. 25, 1951. "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon, March 2 - April 15, 1956; Seattle Art Museum, Washington, April 27 - May 27, 1956; Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California, June 12 - July 11, 1956; Los Angeles County Museum, California, July 26 - Aug. 26, 1956; Minneapolis Art Institute, Minnesota, Sept. 8 - Oct. 7, 1956; City Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 19 - Nov. 18, 1956; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Missouri, Nov. 30, 1956 - Jan. 2, 1957; Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan, Jan. 18 - Feb. 17, 1957; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, March 7 - April 14, 1957. (Exhib. cat. no. 13). "Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition," Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1958. (Exhib. cat. no. 64). "Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1963. (Exhib. cat. no. 22). "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. (Exhib. cat. no. 12). "Spotlight of the Month," Chrysler Museum, Oct. 1980. "David Teniers; 1610-1690: Daily Life and Festivities in Flanders," Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany, November 5, 2005 - February 19, 2006 Published ReferencesEric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville. 1977: no. 12. Eric M. Zafran, reprinted. "Spotlight of the Month: Teniers," _The Chrysler Museum Bulletin_. Vol. 10, no. 10. 10/1980: n.p. Chrysler Museum. _Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: p. 40. Jefferson C. Harrison. "The Seventeenth Century in the North", _The Chrysler Museum Gallery Guide_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum. 1983: no. 14. M. Therese Southgate, MD. "The Cover," _Jama_. Vol. 260, no. 3. 07/15/1988: p. 305, cover ill. Danny Wedding, Ph.D. _Behavior and Medicine_. Mosby-Year Book, Inc.: St. Louis. 1990: p. 318. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculptures, and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, No. 38, p. 48, color ill. p. 49. Ira M. Rutkow, M.D. _Surgery: An Illustrated History_. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc. 1993, color ill. 119, p. 186. "Surgery, Illustrated Desk Diary, 1998," Connecticut: Hilliard Publishing, LLC, 1998, cover, p. 3, June 29. James Peck, M.D., "The art of surgery," _The American Journal of Surgery_ 187, no. 5 (May 2004): 569-574, fig. 6. Margret Klinge and Dietmar Lüdke, _David Teniers der Jüngere, 1610-1690: Alltag und Vergnügen in Flandern_, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2005, 105-106. Robert E. Greenspan, MD, _Medicine: Perspectives in History and Art_ (Alexandria, VA: Ponteverde Press, 2006), 134, 126-137. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 30, fig. 22. Alexis Drahos, _Art and Médecine_ (Paris: Citadelles and Mazenod, 2022).