"The Doctor's residence" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins 24 x 18 inches
My painting "The Doctor's residence" started over 2 years ago was completed in Sep of 2915, after my Summer of vacationing in France for a month. I was so inspired by 18th century France during my 2 week stay in Bordeaux I could not wait to finish this painting I started 2 years ago. It is titled 'The Doctor's Residence" It show perhaps one of the finest homes built circa 1735 in the French Quarter during the French Colonial period. The original plan of this house is located in the Archives Nationales in Paris. The fine two-story plastered brick residence with rusticated side quoins, end chimneys, and massive hipped roof that curved at the lower ends with three dormers. In front of the residence is the fashionably dressed Doctor, his wife in costume of the mid 18th century, and servant (Self portrait) dressed as a exotic Blackamoor, holding a cornucopia tray of Bordeaux wine.
On the sides of the cobblestone walkway are large French Olive jars planted with roses. Behind the family is a French style Parterre garden in the shape of fleur-de-lis, a stylized lily. On the end of the parterres are boxed orange trees and Topiary along the wall. From its inception Louisiana faced an inauspicious existence making a Doctor's practice very profitable in New Orleans. Disease, particularly yellow fever, diminished the community. Floods, storms, humidity, mosquitoes, and poisonous snakes added to the misery.The most deadly diseases to strike Louisiana during the French Colonial period were cholera, smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever.
In an epidemic year the mortality rate could reach as high as sixty percent of those who contracted a disease. Death rates were highest in urban areas like New Orleans, where large numbers of people packed into small areas spread disease quickly. The filth that accumulated in New Orleans and the swampy areas that surrounded it attracted disease-carrying insects and polluted the water supply. Thousands of sailors and boat workers also introduced diseases as they passed through the port.Because people in the eighteenth century were not aware of what caused many diseases, their cures ranged from the ridiculous to the accidentally logical. Halfhearted efforts, such as poisoning stray dogs and discharging smoke bombs to supposedly kill harmful disease-causing vapors, were tried occasionally. All efforts were unsuccessful.
'The Doctor's Residence" original plans. built circa 1735 in the French Quarter during the French Colonial period. located in the Archives Nationales in Paris.
In front of the residence is the fashionably dressed Doctor, his wife in costume of the mid 18th century, and servant (Self portrait) dressed as a exotic Blackamoor, holding a cornucopia tray of Bordeaux wine.
My self portrait as a blackamoor was based off of 18th century carved painted Venetian blackamoors.
Pair of 18th Century Venetian blackamoor in sculpted gilt wood and polychrome.
I had a lot of fun finishing this painting and getting into the details of it.
"The Doctor's residence" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins 24 x 18 inches
The painting was a great success and sold to a local Lawyer in less than a week of being finished.
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