‘The Phlebotomist or the Monkey Doctor’, 1828

Description

Mounted coloured lithograph, entitled ‘The Phlebotomist or the Monkey Doctor’, designed by C.M.B. Morell, lithographed and published by anon.

‘The Phlebotomist or the Monkey Doctor’ features three monkeys in dressed as people. The scene is set in a doctor’s room, with medicine bottles and jars on the shelves. The monkey wearing a cap and gown prepares to bleed his unhappy female patient.

He holds a lancet in his hand, with a bleeding bowl resting on the floor in front of him. Phlebotomists are individuals trained to draw blood from a live person or animal.