The Bad Doctors
Artist / maker
James Ensor (etchers)Date
1895Period
19th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
The theme of Ensor's satirical print "The Bad Doctors" goes back to an old visual tradition, in which doctors are reduced to money-making caricatures and characterised as quacks and charlatans. Not infrequently, the supposed link between the practice of the doctor and death is emphasised. All these elements are also present in Ensor's print, including the doctors ordering each other…
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The theme of Ensor's satirical print "The Bad Doctors" goes back to an old visual tradition, in which doctors are reduced to money-making caricatures and characterised as quacks and charlatans. Not infrequently, the supposed link between the practice of the doctor and death is emphasised. All these elements are also present in Ensor's print, including the doctors ordering each other around and the man with the scythe sneaking into the room. The doctors depicted were all professors at the medical faculty of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. From left to right they are represented: Jules-Adrien Thiriar, Emile Yseux, Guillaume Rommelaere, Jean-Joseph Crocq and Joseph Sacré. The unfortunate patient has not been identified. The print "The poor doctors" is based on the painting of the same name from 1892 (Brussels, collection Université Libre de Bruxelles).
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