“…I curse loquacious doctors for their lies:
They kill the man who’d live, save him who’d died.
Many physicians are foes of the sick
And fail to study what is wrong but, quick,
Prescribe a cure, and often kill outright…”
_{^{Part of a medieval Latin poem, discovered D. Yates, Bulletin of the History of Medicine (1980).}}

Satirical medical art has been around a long time. For example, caricatures of the medical profession, quacks and healers, are found in the sixteenth century Italy, and, then, English painter William Hogarth (1697–1764) also brought to the public his vision of the medical practitioners’ faults, as well as the horrors of Bedlam. Below are three paintings from three different historical periods, showcasing the prevalent attitudes towards medical profession or the state/progress of medicine.

Continue reading “Doctors of the Past: Satirical Medical Art” →