"The Doctor" by Sir Luke Fildes collection

“The Doctor,” painted by Sir Luke Fildes in 1891, has been a popular and influential image in the history of medicine for more than a century. The painting of a Victorian doctor attending a sick child in a poor workman’s cottage held great appeal for the general public, who responded to the sympathetic portrayal. Members of the medical profession embraced the painting as a depiction of the ideal physician firmly rooted in the humanitarian traditions of medicine and not defined by the pristine clinical coldness of laboratory science which was redefining modern medicine at the end of the 19th century. By 1900, over one million prints of “The Doctor” were sold in the United States alone. In the 20th century, “The Doctor” was utilized in advertising, merchandise, political campaigns, and publishing, making it one of the most recognized images in modern medical history.

In 1933-1934, Petrolagar Laboratories used “The Doctor” for an exhibit in the Hall of Science at the “Century of Progress” Chicago World’s Fair, which was attended by more than 48 million people. The exhibit of a life-sized three-dimensional (“Sculpticolor”) version of a Victorian painting was a marked contrast to the modern laboratory-based exhibitions displayed in the Hall of Science.

Members of the medical profession continued to regard “The Doctor” as a depiction of the ideal family physician well into the 20th century. In 1947 the United States Postal Service issued “The Doctor” postage stamps to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the American Medical Association and the AMA used the image on official stationery.

From 1948-1950 the American Medical Association used “The Doctor” as the centerpiece of a massive lobbying campaign against "socialized medicine" (universal healthcare) in the United States. The image of “The Doctor” with the title “keep politics out of this picture” was ubiquitous in the United States; it was used on roadside billboards, medical convention banners, stickers, accompanying editorials in the press, and on posters and fliers displayed in doctors’ waiting rooms across the country. The AMA distributed over 100 million items bearing the image of “The Doctor” as part of this campaign.

In the second half of the 20th century, “The Doctor” was a popular subject for gift and promotional items produced for physicians. In the 1990s, the painting took on a new significance for the medical profession; it was introduced in medical training programs as a tool for the discussion of the patient-doctor relationship. In the 21st century, “The Doctor” continues to influence the practice of medicine and the study of the history of medicine.