"A Consultation of Physicians: Company of Undertakers, or Quacks in Consultation"

Containers:

Box 1, MS-99, Item 8

Scope and content:

Within a lugubrious coat-of-arms, Hogarth depicts three well-known quacks with a group of twelve portly physicians. The three quacks at the top of the print are Joshua Ward, perhaps the most famous charlatan of his time; Sarah Mapp, a well-known bonesetter; and John Taylor, an oculist. The bewigged physicians dispel the stench of death by sniffing the pomander attached to the top of their canes. According to Hogarth, proper physicians and disreputable quacks are all members of the same Company of Undertakers. The Latin caption, Et plurima mortis imago, translates as "And many are the faces of death."

Physical description:

Etching and engraving

Access and use