Summary:

As a father of three boys and a friend of the famous doctors Erik Erickson and Robert Coles, Rockwell had plenty of opportunity to study doctors interacting with patients. Before the Shot is one of his humorous doctor-patient scenes. Published as a Saturday Evening Post cover, March 15, 1958, this oil painting depicts a doctor's examination room with the male physician and his young male patient standing with their backs to each other. In the foreground the young boy stands on a chair in his undershirt. He grasps his belt and pants around his buttocks and leans forward toward the wall, his nose up against one of his doctor's framed diplomas. On the chair are his coat, hat, and scarf. His heavy shoes are on the floor. The doctor stands behind him facing the window and holds a syringe in his hand. The walls of his office are hospital green; the floor grey and white linoleum tile. The dominant color is green. It is daytime.

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Summary:

Doctor and Doll is part of the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The triangular composition depicts an elderly general practitioner seated in a Windsor chair. A little girl is holding her doll out to him, watching intently as the doctor pretends to listen to her doll's heart through his stethoscope. The fact that the little girl comes to his office and stands up before her doctor suggests that she is coming in for a check-up.

The doctor's large black bag on top of the rug by his feet indicates he makes house calls. Behind the two figures is an old-fashioned desk. On top of the desk are several thick volumes, two brass candlesticks, and two pictures. The image on the left may represent a group of doctors in the style of Rembrandt. On the wall we see a large, framed document which has the word "Registration" on it.

The doctor is wearing a dark suit, cravat, and highly polished, black shoes. He turns his head to the right and upwards as he concentrates on his task. His patient, the little girl, is dressed in heavy shoes, stockings, wool skirt, jacket, scarf, and red beret and mittens. She has removed her doll's dress and holds the dress close to her left side with her elbow. The colors of the painting are dark, but the doctor's head with its gray hair, the doll, and the child's serious face are illuminated.

The girl's red beret, mittens, and the doctor's ruddy cheeks and nose give warmth to the picture. Clearly, the doctor is empathetic and kind, and the little girl trusting. Rockwell paints the ideal country doctor taking time to reassure his young patient that he will do her no harm. His gray hairs make him look fatherly.

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