B.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Behind the scenes

Gerrit Dou's The Physician is a favourite work in our collection:

Gerrit Dou The physician. Oil on copper. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū, Heathcote Helmore Bequest 1965

Gerrit Dou The physician. Oil on copper. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū, Heathcote Helmore Bequest 1965

As was common practice, this subject has been copied and re-copied many times. The undisputed king of the doctors is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it is signed and dated:

 Gerrit Dou Arzt. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie GG_592

 Gerrit Dou Arzt. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie GG_592

But he is also to be found at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam painted by Jan van Staveren:

Jan Adriaensz. van Staveren De Dokter. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam SK-A-2321

Jan Adriaensz. van Staveren De Dokter. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam SK-A-2321

And at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow:

Gerrit Dou Physician. Pushkin Museum, Moscow PM 544

Gerrit Dou Physician. Pushkin Museum, Moscow PM 544

And as a print, the doctor now downgraded to a mere charlatan, can be found in the British Museum:

Die Kaiserliche königliche Bildergalerie im Belvedere zu Wien / Belvedere gallery / Der Charlatan After Gerrit DouPublished by Carl HaasPrint made by Sebastian Langer Intermediary draughtsman Sigmund Ferdinand von Perger AN1040040001

Die Kaiserliche königliche Bildergalerie im Belvedere zu Wien / Belvedere gallery / Der Charlatan

After Gerrit Dou
Published by Carl Haas
Print made by Sebastian Langer
Intermediary draughtsman Sigmund Ferdinand von Perger

AN1040040001

With thanks to Jeremy Marshall for this original research.