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Le Chirurgien de Campagne translates from French as 'country surgeon'.
The surgeon is removing a plaster treatment from his patient's foot. The young apprentice is heating a fresh plaster treatment over hot coals. A shaving bowl can be seen in the bottom left hand corner, suggesting that the surgeon may also have been a barber - although shaving bowls were commonly used for bloodletting.
The stuffed iguana hanging from the roof of the room was a common feature of apothecary shops, suggesting the surgeon might also have been an apothecary. It was unusual at this time for one person to practise several professions.
The engraving is taken from a painting by David Teniers II (1610-1690), a Dutch painter. The engraving is dedicated to Monseigneur le Marquis d'Argenson, the French Secretary of State from 1744-1747.
Thomas Major was an engraver, etcher, printseller, and mapseller. He travelled to Paris in 1745 and was imprisoned in the Bastille for three months in late 1746 as reprisal for Frenchmen imprisoned after Culloden. Back in England, he established himself as a print artist and exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in 1762 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1770. He was appointed Seal Engraver to George III and Engraver to the Stamp Office. After his death, his prints and plates were sold at auction; their volume and the interest in them was considerable and the auction continued for six days.
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