Lot Essay
The present drawing is related to the central group of La Vaccine in the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London (fig.1). Harrisse, op. cit., no. 548. Boilly engraved a picture of the same subject in 1824 with a dedication to Dr. Pétroz.
Boilly first studied the composition in three drawings, probably nos. 1186-8 in Harrisse's catalogue, and thereafter executed studies for the individual figures. A drawing for the old doctor is mentioned in Harrisse, op. cit., no. 1189.
Small pox was the most feared of all diseases in the Ancien Regime. An extremely contagious illness, it either killed or left the survivor with permanent scars. King Louis XV died of it in 1774 most unexpectedly. The Chinese had been the first to fight the epidemic with a preventative treatment named inoculation which consisted of introducing into the system of a healthy patient the small pox virus from a mild case with the view of reproducing the disease in a mild form. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu reported in her letters from Turkey that the inoculation was largely practiced in the Middle East. It become a matter of debate among enlighted crowds throughout Europe to know whether it should be practiced in Europe. London had an Inoculation Hospital, the records of which proved the efficiency of the treatment. However because of the risks which the patient incurred and the possible transmission of the virus to other members of the family each inoculation remained at all times a matter of great apprehension and a traumatic experience. The new emphasis on family life which characterized the late 18th century made of such an intense moment a point of focus to the display of maternal customs. Boilly concentrated his attention onto the central element of the composition in the present drawing focusing on the mother and possibly the sister linked to each other by their apprehensions following the dramatic moment after the inoculation.
The present drawing will be included in Boilly's catalogue raisonné prepared by Etienne Breton and Pascal Zuber.
Boilly first studied the composition in three drawings, probably nos. 1186-8 in Harrisse's catalogue, and thereafter executed studies for the individual figures. A drawing for the old doctor is mentioned in Harrisse, op. cit., no. 1189.
Small pox was the most feared of all diseases in the Ancien Regime. An extremely contagious illness, it either killed or left the survivor with permanent scars. King Louis XV died of it in 1774 most unexpectedly. The Chinese had been the first to fight the epidemic with a preventative treatment named inoculation which consisted of introducing into the system of a healthy patient the small pox virus from a mild case with the view of reproducing the disease in a mild form. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu reported in her letters from Turkey that the inoculation was largely practiced in the Middle East. It become a matter of debate among enlighted crowds throughout Europe to know whether it should be practiced in Europe. London had an Inoculation Hospital, the records of which proved the efficiency of the treatment. However because of the risks which the patient incurred and the possible transmission of the virus to other members of the family each inoculation remained at all times a matter of great apprehension and a traumatic experience. The new emphasis on family life which characterized the late 18th century made of such an intense moment a point of focus to the display of maternal customs. Boilly concentrated his attention onto the central element of the composition in the present drawing focusing on the mother and possibly the sister linked to each other by their apprehensions following the dramatic moment after the inoculation.
The present drawing will be included in Boilly's catalogue raisonné prepared by Etienne Breton and Pascal Zuber.