a popular artist and by 1870 he had given up working for The Graphic and had turned his full attention to oil painting. He took rank among the ablest English painters, with The Casual Ward (1874), The Widower (1876), The Village Wedding (1883), An Al-fresco Toilette (1889); and The Doctor (1891), now in Tate Britain. He also painted a number of pictures of Venetian life and many notable portraits, among them portraits commemorating the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (A.S.A.) in 1879, and a Royal Academician (R.A.) in 1887; and was knighted by King Edward VII in 1906. In 1918, he was appointed as Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) by King George V. Fildes produced a large number of caricatures for Vanity Fair under the nom de crayon "ELF". He and Henry Woods were regarded as leaders of the Neo-Venetian school. Personal life In 1874 Luke Fildes married Fanny Woods, who was also an artist and the sister of Henry Woods. Fildes' first son, Philip, died of typhoid in 1877. The image of the doctor at his son's side during the ordeal left a lasting memory of professional devotion that inspired Fildes' 1891 work The Doctor. His later son, Sir Paul Fildes, was an eminent scientist. They also had another son, Geoffrey, and a daughter Phyllis. A blue plaque marks Fildes's former house, Woodland House, in Melbury Road, Kensington, next to William Burges's Tower House. His home was later owned by film director Michael Winner. Fildes died in 1927 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery. Modern politics In 1949 Fildes' painting The Doctor (1891) was used by the American Medical Association in a campaign against a proposal for nationalised medical care put forth by President Harry S. Truman. The image was used in posters and brochures along with the slogan, "Keep Politics Out of this Picture" implying that involvement of the government in medical care would negatively affect the quality of care. 65,000 posters of The Doctor were displayed, which helped to raise public scepticism for the nationalised health care campaign. Gallery Works by Fildes Related to Fildes Notes References L. V. Fildes, Luke Fildes, R.A., A Victorian Painter (Michael Joseph, 1968) External links Sir Luke Fildes New York Times 1880 1843 births 1927 deaths Artists from Liverpool Artists' Rifles soldiers British genre painters English