William Cheselden giving an anatomical demonstration to six spectators in the anatomy-theatre of the Barber-Surgeons' Company, London. Oil painting, ca. 1730/1740.

Date:
[between 1730 and 1739?]
Reference:
47339i
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Description

William Cheselden was a leading English surgeon in the reign of George II, practising in the London of William Hogarth, Sir Isaac Newton and Alexander Pope. He was a member of the Barber-Surgeon's company, based in London near the Barbican. The company's building included an anatomy theatre designed by Inigo Jones, constructed in 1636 and demolished in 1784. The painting probably shows Cheselden in that anatomy theatre, demonstrating privately to a group of his colleagues or to interested gentlemen. Cheselden was one of those who concluded that Henry VIII's union of the company of barbers with the guild of surgeons in the Barber-Surgeon's company had had its day, and that the two guilds should separate. The group that seceded in 1745, known as the Company of Surgeons, built its new hall, called Surgeons' Hall, in Old Bailey, including a new anatomy theatre at Cheselden's stipulation. The Company of Surgeons was a predecessor of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which is today the main support organization for surgeons in England and Wales

Publication/Creation

[between 1730 and 1739?]

Physical description

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 79.7 x 60.5 cm

References note

Ilaria Bignamini and Martin Postle, The artist's model: its role in British art from Lely to Etty, Nottingham: University Art Gallery, 1991, no. 74, p. 86
Christopher Wright et al., British and Irish paintings in public collections, New Haven and London: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2006, pp. 636-637

Reference

Wellcome Collection 47339i

Creator/production credits

Similar to paintings by Charles Philips (1703-1747) and by artists in his circle

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