The Doctor is an 1891 painting by Luke Fildes that depicts a Victorian doctor observing the critical stage in a child's illness while the parents gaze on helplessly from the periphery. It has been used to portray the values of the ideal physician and the inadequacies of the medical profession. Different theories exist as to the painting's origin but it is most likely based upon Fildes' own experience of the death of his son. Critics have noted that Fildes omitted common medical equipment of his era in order to focus on the relationship between physician and patient. Origins The painting was commissioned by Henry Tate in 1890 as a work of "social realism" on a topic of Fildes' choosing to be displayed in the National Gallery of British Art, now known as the Tate Gallery London. Fildes was paid £3,000 for the work, a sum he felt was too small for such a painting and less than he expected for painting portraits. Two Victorian doctors, Dr Thomas Buzzard (neurologist) and Dr Gustavus Murray (obstetrician), have been particularly associated with the painting, as has the genre of the period in which it was painted. Fildes had the particular desire "to put on record the status of the doctor in our time". Different theories exist as to the origins of the painting. Fildes' personal loss The most important personal influence was probably the death of Fildes' first child, his one-year-old son, Philip, from typhoid fever on Christmas morning, 1877. Fildes' biographer has described how the boy's death compelled Fildes to paint a picture revolving around the compassionate Dr Murray visiting his dying child. The story was confirmed later by Fildes' second son, who described this as Fildes' "quickest painted of his 'big' pictures". Fildes' experiences Documentation of Fildes' work with the homeless reveals that a child was once brought into the studio by a labourer, a scenario which prompted the painting The Widower (1876). This painting included many features later seen in The Doctor. Fildes most likely modelled the characters in the painting on his own family and himself. Observing photographs of himself, Fildes guided his models, who were frequently his friends. His daughter was likely the prototype of the sick child, and a professional model was used for the mother. The child's resting hand and extended arm may have been drawn from Fildes' older son. Despite reports that doctors visited Fildes