Gentle Doctor Model

Artist / Maker Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Date1936

MediumPainted plaster

Dimensions10 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 3 in. (26.7 × 6.4 × 7.6 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of the estate of M. Burton Drexler. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM2018.226

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: The symbol of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University, and for much of the veterinary profession throughout the world, is The Gentle Doctor sculpture by Christian Petersen. The inspiration for The Gentle Doctor began in 1936 when Christian Petersen sketched a central figure to enhance the bas-relief mural he created for the courtyard wall of the Veterinary Quadrangle (now Lagomarcino Hall). Petersen wished to add a central figure that would offer a gentler, more compassionate image of veterinarians, contrasting the purposeful and clinical struggle of the scientists depicted in his Veterinary Medicine Mural. Petersen’s solution was to present a veterinarian coming to the aid of an ailing family pet. Petersen created this model of The Gentle Doctor in painted plaster in 1936-37. With both compassion and competence, a skilled and sympathetic veterinarian cradles an ailing puppy in his oversized hands while glancing down to catch the watchful gaze of the mother dog leaning against the doctor’s knee, patiently waiting at his feet. The original full-scale terra cotta sculpture stood in front of the Veterinary Medicine Mural for 40 years in the old Veterinary Medicine Quadrangle on central campus. The statue was then recast in bronze and is now sited at the entrance to the Small Animal Clinic, Veterinary Medicine Complex. The Gentle Doctor has become a lasting symbol of veterinary medicine, and has continuously been reproduced in smaller, copyrighted resin castings sold by Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. From 1960 to 1980, the college sold 18 in. plaster castings of “The Gentle Doctor” as a fundraiser for the Christian Petersen Scholarship Fund, with royalties paid to Charlotte Petersen.

SignedChristian Petersen

Locations