Southern Folk Artist & Antiques Dealer/Collector: My latest masterpiece "Creole Apothecary"

Creole Apothecary by Andrew LaMar Hopkins

Over a month ago I got the ideal to paint a 18th century New Orleans Creole Apothecary. I had to imagine what it might have looked like. Like the famous Renaissance artist Michelangelo who once said “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” It is the same with me and canvas. I get visions and it is my work and job to release it with paint. I'm always working on 30 paintings at the same time as I get tired working on one at a time.

At the end of finishing my Saint Joseph Altar painting I got the vision to paint Creole Apothecary. I had to start it on the same date. I did not have any fresh canvas in the size I wanted to paint it on so I gessoed a old canvas I had started to paint that I would most likely not finish. I had recently seen photo's of the beautiful La chapelle des Carmélites in Toulouse, France. I loved the color schemes of the interior of the chapelle. I wanted the interior of this painting to be grand! Apothecary's like banks of the period were built and decorated to be imposing and impressive. Just by looking at a exterior or interior you were suppose to be impressed into spending your money in a beautiful place like the Apothecary depicted in my painting.

La chapelle des Carmélites in Toulouse, France. Inspiration for wood work in Creole Apothecary

French Ionic capital with hanging flower garlands and Scamozzi-style volutes.

During the mid 18th century New Orleans and Louisiana had new levels of prosperity. Louisiana realized increases in both trade and population due primarily to the arrival of an ancestor of mine Pierre de Vandreuil Governor of Louisiana from 1743-1753. Vaudreuil was popular with the upper-class colonist and French officials for his elegant manners. He frequently sponsored balls, dinners and other social events. During this period New Orleans was know as the Paris in the Swamp. The panting depicts a elegantly appointed Apothecary of about 1785. The cabinets and shelves have gilded French Ionic columns and capitals with hanging garlands and Scamozzi-style volutes. The paneled cabinets are painted a dusty blue and marbleized trimmed with gilt and dark blue doors. The baseboards of the case pieces are marbleized to look like Black Egyptian gold veined marble.

The shelves are lined with faïence blue decorated tin-glazed pottery Pharmacy jars as well as glass jars. On the upper shelves are French 17th century pendent portraits of Christ and the Virgin Mary in ornate gold gilt frames with altar urns with carved gilded flowers on each side of the portraits. In the center of the shelves is a taxidermy alligator and lizard bringing in the exotic. Louisiana has long captured America’s and Europe's imagination with its beautiful bayous, delicious cuisine and abundant wildlife. Stories about the alligator (or “crocodile,” as the French called them) began to appear in print soon after the Sieurd’Iberville established the Louisiana colony in 1699.

In fact, one of the first mentions of our alligator can be found in Iberville’s diary. “We see a large quantity of crocodiles,” he wrote while exploring Bayou Manchac. “I killed a small one, 8 feet long. They are very good to eat.” Andre Penicaut accompanied Iberville on the expedition, and he claimed that one of the first places in Louisiana the French named was the Riviere-aux-Chiens "because a crocodile ate up one of our dogs there." This stream is modern-day Dog River in Mobile, Alabama the first capital of French Louisiana. Le Page DuPratz, another early explorer, frequently mentioned the alligator in his memoirs. According to DuPratz, they were not only widespread but downright huge. "Among other things I cannot omit to give an account of a monstrous large alligator I killed with a musquet (sic) ball …," he wrote. "We measured it, and found it to be 19 feet long, its head 3 feet and a half long … at the belly it was 2 feet, 2 inches thick…. M. Mehane told me, he had killed one that was 22 feet long."

The the Apothecarist hands a bill to a Gentleman as his sick Creole Free lady of color gaze off with a sick expression holding her fan.

In the center of the shelves is a carved wood Louis XVI frame with cobalt background with gilt letters "Apothecary La Nouvelle-Orléans". Under the frame a Neoclassical wrought iron safe door holds valuables related to the Apothecary trade under lock and key. In the center of the wrought iron is a caduceus. It is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology. The Caduceus as a symbol of medicine where it was sometimes associated with alchemy and wisdom. Under the wrought iron safe door is a faïence blue decorated water cistern and green glasses. On ether end of the counter are a pair of Louis XVI style Argand lamps. The Argand lamp is a lighting oil lamp producing a light output of 6 to 10 candelabra which was invented and patented in 1780 by Aimé Argand.

Aside from the improvement in brightness, the more complete combustion of the wick and oil required much less frequent trimming of the wick. In France, they are known as "Quinquets" after Antoine-Arnoult Quinquet, a pharmacist in Paris, who used the idea originated by Argand and popularized it in France. He is sometimes credited with the addition of the glass chimney to the lamp. A English pottery Leech jar also sits on the counter. The European medical leech Hirudo medicinalis and some congeners, as well as some other species, have been used for clinical bloodletting for thousands of years. The use of leeches in medicine dates as far back as 2,500 years ago.

If you came into apothecary one of the first things that would be done to you was bloodletting a very common practice from the late 19th century back. All sickness was thought to come from bad blood. If you were sick releasing some of the bad blood was thought to be beneficial to the body and could cure or prevent illness and disease. Bloodletting was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily fluid were regarded as "humors" that had to remain in proper balance to maintain health. It was the most common medical practice performed by physicians from antiquity until the late 19th century, a span of almost 2,000 years. We now know in the overwhelming majority of cases, the historical use of bloodletting was harmful to patients.

A elegantly dressed Lady stands at the counter as a young assistant gazes off behind the counter.

18th century French fashion print.

In the center of the room we have a gilt wood Louis XVI piece of furniture called a Athenienne. The design was a French twist on a classical piece, which made its appearance in France around 1773. The essential pedestal table is supported by a tripod base. You can have them in your living room or any room where you might entertain. "The multi-purpose athénienne was intended for entertaining in the salon or boudoir and was accordingly fitted with casters and an ormolu-mounted patinated copper cassolette, silvered on the inside and containing a removable spirit lamp, above which was set a tin-plated double boiler, surmounted by a marble slab and a patinated copper cover.

The uses of the Athénienne were eight:

as an ornament and focal point in the middle of a room

as a table under a pier mirror , or in a corner, or as a pedestal to support a candelabrum or a piece of sculpture

as a perfume burner as used in the painting

as a heater for making coffee, tea, or chocolate

as a goldfish bowl

as a planter to grow bulbs in winter

as a bowl for cut flowers

as a device for keeping bouillon or other drinks warm."

A English pottery Leech jar also sits on the counter.

To the left of the painting a fashionably dressed Free man of color apprentice crushes herbs in a Mortar with a Pestle on a Louisiana French styled cabriole leg table a preparation table where the medicine was mixed on prescription. A elegantly dressed Lady stands at the counter as a young assistant gazes off behind the counter . The the Apothecarist hands a bill to a Gentleman as his sick Creole Free lady of color gaze off with a sick expression holding her fan. An Apothecarist was one trained and skilled in the arts of formal medicine. Though not as highly regarded as a physician, these workers devoted their time and studies to the arts of healing. Trained physicians were expensive and usually only retained and hired by kings, nobles and the elite. Therefore the Apothecarist served the common people. Commonly a monk or priest held the position and most available remedies came from the natural uses of plants, herbs and roots. It is believed that most of these practical applications were first discovered by the Celts and Druids.

A fashionably dressed Free man of color apprentice crushes herbs in a Mortar with a Pestle on a Louisiana French styled cabriole leg table a preparation table where the medicine was mixed on prescription.

A early Louisiana French styled cabriole leg table

In the center of the shelves is a taxidermy alligator and lizard bringing in the exotic. Louisiana has long captured America’s and Europe's imagination with its beautiful bayous, delicious cuisine and abundant wildlife. Stories about the alligator (or “crocodile,” as the French called them) began to appear in print soon after the Sieurd’Iberville established the Louisiana colony in 1699. In fact, one of the first mentions of our alligator can be found in Iberville’s diary. “We see a large quantity of crocodiles,” he wrote while exploring Bayou Manchac. “I killed a small one, 8 feet long. They are very good to eat.” Andre Penicaut accompanied Iberville on the expedition, and he claimed that one of the first places in Louisiana the French named was the Riviere-aux-Chiens "because a crocodile ate up one of our dogs there." This stream is modern-day Dog River in Mobile, Alabama the first capital of French Louisiana. Le Page DuPratz, another early explorer, frequently mentioned the alligator in his memoirs. According to DuPratz, they were not only widespread but downright huge. "Among other things I cannot omit to give an account of a monstrous large alligator I killed with a musquet (sic) ball …," he wrote. "We measured it, and found it to be 19 feet long, its head 3 feet and a half long … at the belly it was 2 feet, 2 inches thick…. M. Mehane told me, he had killed one that was 22 feet long."

18th century engraving showing a alligator

18th century German spice sign showing the exotic. A plumed African, China-man and hanging Alligator

A 17th century European Apothecary showing a lady having bloodletting done to her, not the hanging Alligator.

The shelves are lined with faïence blue decorated tin-glazed pottery Pharmacy jars as well as glass jars. On the upper shelves are French 17th century pendent portraits of Christ and the Virgin Mary in ornate gold gilt frames with altar urns with carved gilded flowers on each side of the portraits.

French 17th century portrait of Christ

Detail of gold gilt frame

faïence blue decorated tin-glazed pottery Pharmacy jars

18th century Brass Scale

Louis XVI style Argand lamps.

An Apothecarist who was a member of a religious order often charged a donation to his sect for his services. A layman who served in the same occupation could charge whatever fees he or she wanted. Ironically New Orleans had the first licensed pharmacist in the United States. In the early 19th Century when the Americans took charge of New Orleans (and the rest of the Louisiana Purchase) in 1803 and William C.C. Claiborne took over as Governor of the Louisiana Territory.

In 1804, Claiborne approved an order that established a licensing exam for pharmacists. The Louisiana legislature re-affirmed this with a law after becoming a state in 1812. In 1816, Louis Dufilho, Jr., a resident of New Orleans, passed an exam administered by a board of experienced professionals at the Cabildo, becoming the first licensed pharmacist in the United States. To add to the list of early pharmaceutical remedies, Voodoo potions were sold on the down-low in New Orleans pharmacies, and the recipes were taught to the pharmacists by local voodoo priestesses. Dufilho studied European medicine in Paris, but it appears he learned much from the African population in New Orleans.