On the cover: detail from The Operation. Photograph © Giraudon/Art Resource, New York. Reproduced with permission.

The complete work is reproduced above.

The Operation is by the 17th-century Dutch painter Gerrit (Gerard) Dou, 1613–1675. Dou, who lived in Leiden, was Rembrandt’s first student, although he was only 7 years younger than Rembrandt. Dou became a respected genre painter, best known for portraits of ordinary people and depictions of domestic life, such as this one. Like his contemporary, Johannes Vermeer, Dou often painted interior scenes on a small scale, in which a window at the left side of the room provides the light source. Positioning the figures next to the window is appropriate for the theme of this painting, since the “operation” requires good lighting. The medical procedure is not the artist’s primary interest, but perhaps the surgeon is draining an infected ear or mastoid. Dou is known for his precise, highly finished painting technique, which may reflect early training by his father, who was a glass painter. The subject is similar and both are Flemish Baroque genre paintings, but this work is much more sophisticated in its execution than Ryckaert’s Barber-Surgeon, 1638 (on the cover of CID, vol. 37, no. 7). It belongs to the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva. (Ann Arvin, Cover Art Editor)