'The Cow-Pock' (1802) by James Gillray reproduced from The Healing Presence of Art: A History of Western Art in Hospitals
Creator
Date
2012
Identifier
Central NK2115 A77 C674 2012
Type
Publisher
New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press
Abstract
In the 1790s, Edward Jenner discovered that vaccination (vacca = cow in Latin) with pus from Cowpox provided cross-immunity to Smallpox. It met with great controversy, as depicted by James Gillray in this caricature of 1802. The papers in the boy’s pocket (left) read ‘Benefits of the Vaccine’, and he holds a container labelled ‘Vaccine Pock hot from ye Cow’. On the wall is a painting showing the worshippers of the Golden Calf.
Files
Citation
Richard Cork, “'The Cow-Pock' (1802) by James Gillray reproduced from The Healing Presence of Art: A History of Western Art in Hospitals,” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed April 17, 2024, https://ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/11074.