The Physician

Physician

Placement in the painting

Todten-Capelle:
Des Artzten sein Kunst
find bey mir kein Gunst.

In the background, Death drags an old nun to the doctor and hands him a bottle of urine as a challenge.

The text in the painting is again from Todten-Capelle.

Holbein, physician

Holbein, physician

Doctors are always depicted in the dances of death with a bottle of urine in hand (see these pictures of physicians).

Hans Holbein goes a step further when he shows Death submitting a urine sample as a challenge. This applies especially to Holbein's great dance of death, where Death arrives at the doctor with both a patient and a urine sample.

Compared to Holbein's woodcut, the only real change is that the painting has replaced the old man with a nun.

Dances of death Danish dances of death National museum Physician