Sir Luke Fildes' painting The Doctor (1887, The Tate Britain, London) is the enduring image of the Victorian GP and is frequently used to portray the qualities of a good doctor to this day. This image of the ideal, dedicated doctor has appeared in many and different settings and can be found in almost any context in our contemporary culture when considering the qualities or shortcomings of the medical profession. This article looks at the context of Fildes' painting and asks if it is an accurate representation of historical reality. This leads to a consideration of the status and attributes of a doctor in contemporary society and what we may learn about this from a study of Fildes' painting.
Fildes' celebrated 1887 work, The Doctor, depicts a Victorian GP on a home visit. He is watching over an impoverished labourer's sick child; the bed is makeshift, two non-matching chairs pushed together; the cottage interior humble, befitting the labourer's status. The central figure is the imposing male doctor, gazing intently at his patient, while in the background the father looks on helplessly his hand on the shoulders of his tearful wife. The doctor is observing the ‘crisis’ of the child's illness, the critical stage in pre-antibiotic days when the patient is no longer overwhelmed by infection. The breaking light of dawn on the child's face suggests the crisis is over and that recovery is possible. Fildes' skilful use of light and perspective focuses the eye on the doctor, the patient, and the relationship between them. The child's parents are peripheral, almost irrelevant, the father is watchful but disempowered by the presence of the expert, and the mother, in a stereotypically female role, is collapsed but accepting succour from the hand of the more powerful male. ‘The doctor broods, and in …