Doctor

Rowlandson's Doctor is a satirical depiction of the medical profession in Georgian England — a subject that amused him throughout his career. The doctor, with his wig, his bedside manner, and his improbable prescriptions, is one of the stock figures of Rowlandson's social comedy, representing the pompous authority of a profession that was still more guesswork than science. The pen and ink line captures the doctor's gesture and expression with the economy of a master caricaturist, while the watercolor wash provides just enough color to characterize the setting — a sickroom, a consultation, or a medical crisis rendered as social comedy.

Medical satire was one of Rowlandson's most productive subjects because the medical profession in Georgian England was rich with targets: the elaborate theories, the expensive prescriptions, the pompous bedside manner, and the frequent failures of treatment all provided material for the satirist's art. Rowlandson's Doctor participates in a tradition of medical satire that stretches from Moliere to modern editorial cartoons, but his version is distinguished by the warmth and physical vitality that characterize even his most biting satires.

Doctor is Rowlandson's medical profession at its most pompous and least effective — which is to say, the way most Georgians experienced it. The satire is sharp but not cruel: Rowlandson's doctor is a foolish authority figure, but he is also recognizably human, which makes the joke both funnier and more serious.