The Dentist

A foppishly dressed dentist leans close to pull a tooth from a squirming patient while an older woman—perhaps the patient's wife—looks on from the left. The painter has framed the scene with an illusionistic windowsill and curtain, as if the viewers peer inside the architecture—Dou's trademark compositional device. On the sill sits a potted plant, dented metal basin, and conch shell. An alembic at the bottom left and a stuffed reptile specimen hanging from the ceiling allude to this dentist's diverse pursuits or guises.