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John Hunter

(1728-1793), Surgeon and anatomist

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter in 13 portraits
John Hunter moved to London from his native Scotland in 1748. He established a successful surgical practice, and made numerous discoveries in medical science and anatomy. He became Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767, and Surgeon-General in 1790. After his death, Hunter quickly gained a reputation as having been the founding father of his profession. His collection of nearly 14,000 natural history specimens became the basis of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

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Nicole Karam

12 February 2019, 20:47

This portrait of John Hunter has thematic similarities with Walter Sickert's portrait, "Ennui," and may have inspired the latter work. Hunter was the real-life inspiration for Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde. According to forensic scientist and best-selling author Patricia Cornwell, Sickert was possibly Jack the Ripper. Sickert was obsessed with the fictitious Dr. Jekyll; he might've also been drawn to Hunter and his collection of organs from his midnight grave-robbing activities, removing women's organs as an homage to his 18th c predecessor.

In "Ennui," Sickert shows a woman gazing at a "murder" of crows (murder=flock of crows); a female subject stares at this "murder" contained in a bell jar without recognizing it. Cornwell points out that the painting-within-a-painting in "Ennui" shows a dark figure swooping down on an unsuspecting female victim.

In the Hunter portrait, evidence of his nefarious body snatching activities are also "Hyde"-n in plain view. The body of the disinterred Irish giant and a fetus, cowering in a bell jar with her hands over her eyes, are also juxtaposed against the face of a respectable public personae.