The Company of Undertakers
A Consultation of Physicians, or The Company of Undertakers is a 1736 engraving by the English artist William Hogarth that satirizes the medical profession.On a chief, nebulae, ermine, one complete doctor, issuant, checkie, sustaining, in his right hand, a baton of the second.[4] Taylor, seated at the top left, is winking and holds a cane bearing an open eye, a reference to his dubious ocular surgeries.The bonesetter Mapp holds a large bone in her hand, and Ward, a pharmaceutical charlatan, is depicted with a half-red face, representing the man's distinctive port-wine birthmark.[8] The doctors' canes resemble the batons held by undertakers at funerals,[9] and death is symbolized by the black background and the crossed bones at the bottom of the crest.
William HogarthWellcome Collectioncoat of armsquacksJohn TaylorSarah MappJoshua Wardblazonundertakerspropererminedexter and sinisterescutcheonbonesetterport-wine birthmarkuroscopyList of works by William HogarthRoyal AcademyAMA Journal of EthicsPhiladelphia Museum of ArtBulletin of the History of MedicineDover PublicationsList of worksEmblematical Print on the South Sea SchemeThe Bad Taste of the TownA Just View of the British StageBefore and AfterStrolling Actresses Dressing in a BarnThe Distrest PoetThe Enraged MusicianCharacters and CaricaturasIndustry and IdlenessBeer Street and Gin LaneThe Four Stages of CrueltyColumbus Breaking the EggSatire on False PerspectiveCredulity, Superstition, and FanaticismFive Orders of PeriwigsJohn Wilkes Esq.The Assembly at Wanstead HouseA Harlot's ProgressA Rake's ProgressSouthwark FairScene from Shakespeare's The TempestFour Times of the DayThe Shrimp GirlPortrait of Captain Thomas CoramTaste in High LifeThe Graham ChildrenCaptain Lord George Graham in his CabinDavid Garrick as Richard IIIPainter and his PugThe Gate of CalaisHogarth's ServantsThe March of the Guards to FinchleyHumours of an ElectionSealing the TombHogarth Painting the Comic MuseThe BenchThe Lady's Last StakeSigismunda mourning over the Heart of GuiscardoMarriage A-la-ModeThe Analysis of BeautyLine of beautyHogarth's HouseSarah MalcolmHogarth ClubMary Edwards (Patron)