"El cirujano" by Jan Sanders van Hemessen

"El cirujano" (The Surgeon) is a panel painting by Flemish artist Jan Sanders van Hemessen. It dates back to c. 1555 and can be admired in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

"A surgeon extracts a stone from a patient's head. The scene takes place in an urban setting, probably a market. An aged helper holds the patient's head, along with a youth, who prepares the unguents. Meanwhile, another patient grimaces grotesquely while waiting his turn. Hemessen criticizes the defrauding of patients by depicting the doctor with a sarcastic expression that reveals him as an impostor whose only interest is money"1.

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  • Photo by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (August 2013)


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