Description of a Painting

There is much to see, say, and write about a painting. Art critics know how to explain the composition, the colors, the vibrancy, the state of mind of the artist. The painting by Andrieux (see Figure) is somehow different. It is the rendering of a hospital scene, a time capsule, focusing on one location with the presence of physicians, nurses, and patients. This painting illustrates the practice of pediatrics circa 1900 in France.

The painting represents a Paris hospital room, probably at the Hospital de la Charité, located on rue des Ecoles. This hospital was demolished in 1935, and in its place, the Paris Medical School—La Nouvelle Ecole de Medecine—was built after World War II. The maternity ward of the hospital was directed by Pierre Budin, one of the fellows of Stéphane Tarnier, the initiator of the first well-being clinics for nurslings and the author of Le Nourrisson, published in 1900 and translated to English in 1907 as The Nursling.

In the middle of the room, a physician, bent over a strange crib, examines an infant. He has introduced his second finger into the mouth of the baby to evaluate the suck reflex. With the other hand, he holds carefully the head of the little patient who is lying in a couveuse^a (incubator). This new device was introduced by Stéphane Tarnier in 1883.^b The infant warmer in the painting is made of high-gloss enamel, so that it can be sterilized for the next patient. It …