Wolfgang Heimbach, Der Kranke, oil on copper, 25 x 19 cm, 1666, Kunsthalle, Hamburg. (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons).

In this work an ailing man is seated being attended to by a woman, perhaps his wife. His complexion is pallid and his expression listless, all implying his deteriorating condition. With as much fortitude as he can muster, he looks down to a concerned young girl, presumably his daughter, who looks up to him extending her hand for the paternal touch. He holds her hand and lays the other on her head as though to reassure her. The woman attending to him also looks down to the child, as if to listen to the young girl expressing her concerns. She holds one head to the man’s forehead as if to feel his temperature and keep his head upright while wrapping a blanket around him. A woman in the background looks at the scene taking place in front of her with a bundle of blankets in her arms.