V0017247 A birth-scene. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, Åbo, Sw
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
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A birth-scene. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, Åbo, Sweden (later Turku, Finland), 1800.
1800 Published: –
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This image displays a woman giving birth at home.  The woman is sitting on a chair to give birth. The basket under the table, the lamp, chair  indicates home. She is surrounded by a man who probably is her husband , an elderly woman woman who is playing the role of midwife and a female who appears to be pouring medicine. The male figure supports her back but appears to be scornful at the same time  with his right hand flailed. Appears that he intends not to touch the blood or baby until cleaned up. The female appears to be in the final stage of labor, her cries seems lessened at this point as the  head and arms of the baby are out the birth canal. The most painful stage. This image is similar to the images reviewed showing medical students the actual functions of the body, similar to Charles Etienne dissection of women. Shows the natural body functioning during birth. It is striking that a male is witnessing the birthing process and actually participating . This to me would be considered a more modern role. I thought the birthing process would be handled by women only then. This picture strongly depicts a woman’s strength. He lower body is strongly build and is ready for the birthing role.