Portrait of Dr. Jeremiah Donovan, an army surgeon 1809

Curator: This is a portrait of Dr. Jeremiah Donovan, an army surgeon, created as an engraving in 1809 after a sketch by an artist named Rowlandson. James Hopwood then completed the engraving. Editor: He looks so… comfortable. Sort of rumpled and cozy. He's like the chill uncle you always want to hang out with. Curator: Interesting. Considering this was a time when portraiture was about projecting power and status, it's unusual to see such informality. And he's got a small writing desk beside him, complete with ink and quill, implying scholarly pursuits beyond the battlefield. Editor: I love that the artist included that. It complicates him. He's not just some tough surgeon; he's a thinker, maybe a writer himself. I imagine him scribbling poetry between tending to wounds. Curator: It speaks to a broader shift in the portrayal of professionals at the time. Army surgeons were becoming more respected for their contributions, particularly as medicine advanced. Showing him in this relaxed pose, surrounded by instruments of intellect, elevates his status. Editor: He does have kind eyes behind those spectacles. Though, if I needed surgery, I would want him alert and a little stressed instead of…this relaxed! Maybe he’s just confident, supremely skilled? Curator: It's likely a blend of things. The Romantics certainly saw the virtue of feeling and portraying emotional complexity, and that is perhaps the defining tone. The success of the image lay perhaps, in this image marrying this to the subject’s own social position in Britain in 1809. Editor: I like the detail in his face and in his jacket—almost makes up for the fact that most of the print is so muted. But it adds to that intimate feel somehow. As though, yes, we have caught him unawares. Curator: It's a compelling glimpse into the life and image-making surrounding a professional figure during a period of significant social and medical change. A Romantic era surgeon intellectual! Editor: Definitely adds a little bit of humanity to a profession often associated with, let's be honest, a bit of necessary gruesomeness. Now, that’s what I call bedside manner!