‘The Sailor and the Quack Doctor’, 1807

Description

Mounted hand coloured etching, entitled ‘The SAILOR and the QUACK DOCTOR!!’, designed by George Moutard Woodward, etched by Thomas Rowlandson, and published by Thomas Tegg around 1807.

This is a satirical attack against quack doctors and their improbable claims of cures. A sailor in striped trousers, short jacket, neckerchief and wide brimmed hat is in consultation with a quack in his room. He holds a “List of Cures”, and his left eye is bandaged.

An anatomical skeleton hangs behind him in a cabinet. The sailor describes his ailment but questions the doctor’s skill because he assumes the skeleton hanging in the cupboard is a past patient.

He says in a satire on nautical jargon; “You must know Doctor I have a bit of a Confusion on my larboard cheek from a chance shot, and as I dont think it of consequence enough for our Ships surgeon, I bore down to you, after overhauling a list of your cures – but I suppose from the messmate in the Cabin there, you dont always make a return of the Killed and wound