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The Woman with Dropsy

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The Woman with Dropsy
La Femme hydropique (French)
Oil on canvas work from the Dutch golden age, it depicts an older woman suffering from dropsy (edema), with a physician examining her urine as a diagnostic tool. She is surrounded by two comforting family members. The room is dark save for  the light from a large window that creates an interesting effect on the painting.
ArtistGerrit Dou
Year1663
MediumOil on panel
Dimensions86 cm × 67 cm (34 in × 26 in)
Location

The Woman with Dropsy or The Dropsical Woman (French: La Femme hydropique) is an oil-on-panel painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Gerrit Dou, created in 1663. It shows a woman suffering from edema and is considered as one of Dou's masterpieces.[1][2]

Previously in Charles Emmanuel IV's collections, he gave it to Bertrand Clauzel in December 1798. Then adjutant-general to revolutionary France's Armée d'Italie, Clauzel offered it to the French Directory, which in 1799 added it to the Republic's central art museum (later to become the Louvre Museum), making it the first painting to be donated to that collection and placing Clauzel at the top of the plaque of donors on the "rotonde d'Apollon".[3][4] It is still in the Louvre as INV. 1213.

References

[edit]
  1. (in French) "Base Joconde entry".
  2. (in French) "Louvre Collections entry". 1663.
  3. (in French) Qui est la femme hydropique ?, article dans Sortir, supplément culturel de Télérama, 27 novembre 2019.
  4. "RKDimages entry".