Email this article THE PLOT OF THE DOCTOR’S VISIT IN THE WORKS BY JAN STEEN AND LEIDEN PAINTINGS OF THE 17TH CENTURY. PROBLEMS OF SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION
- Authors: DMITRIEVA A.A.1, KOSTYUK E.B.2
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Affiliations:
- Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design
- Saint Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences
- Issue: No 85 (2025)
- Pages: 162-171
- Section: Articles
- URL: https://medbiosci.ru/2222-5064/article/view/382609
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.25807/22225064_2025_85_162
- ID: 382609
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Abstract
The authors of the article carry out the compositional and iconographic analyses of the works of the Dutch artists of the 17th century on the doctor’s visit theme. The object of the study is the paintings of Leiden masters Jan Steen, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Gabriel Metsu, Gerard Dou and Jacob Torenvliet. The role of the folk theatre of rhetoricians and the traditions of the Italian commedia dell’arte as sources of the painters’ interest in depicting the image of a doctor is noted. The authors of the article pay special attention to the symbolism of the subject matter of the compositions and actualise the significance of the didactic emblematics, which contributes to the reading of the hidden meanings embedded in the paintings. The conclusion is made that the doctor’s visit plot proves the fact of close interaction of painting, theatre and science in the Dutch culture.
About the authors
A. A. DMITRIEVA
Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8019-4359
E. B. KOSTYUK
Saint Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0456-1441
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