Art list

Schilderijen

Schilderijen en de dokter

Life of Painters

Brueghel the Elder, Pieter – The Tower of Babel

At the top, the freshly laid bricks are still red, but at the base of the tower, the stones are already weathered and have taken on the color of the surrounding environment.as a symbol of the madness and arrogant ambitions of humanity. (Genesis 11:1–9) The story of the Tower of Babel is said to explain the existence of different languages and peoples. The Bible says that humanity originally spoke one and the same language, but when the Babylonians tried to build a tower that reached into heaven, God disrupted the pretentious project by causing the workers to speak many different language…

Unknown – 16th century: Four depictions of a physician

Seen through the eyes of the patient in the 16th century (1600-1625) This is the first in a series of four paintings by an unknown Northern Netherlandish artist, depicting the four guises of the doctor as seen through the eyes of the patient in the 16th century. These paintings are based on a series of four engravings from 1587 by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), but they are not exact painted copies of those prints. ♦ First painting In this first painting, we see the physician as perceived by the seriously ill patient as the great healer who can save his life, equal to God. Three me…

Eyck van Barthélemy_Still life with books

Stilleven met boeken & the prophet Isaiah Barthélemy van Eyck, 1420-1470 ca.1445 / Boijmans van Beuningen ♦ Description This depiction of the prophet Isaiah was once part of a triptych in the cathedral of the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence. The central panel still hangs in the church there. The right panel, depicting the prophet Jeremiah, is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. The still life with books and wooden boxes was sawed off the top of this Isaiah painting by an art dealer in the 19th century. This still life is now in the Rijksmuseum. Over the centuries, …

Matsys, Quinten_The money changer and his wife

Quinten Matsys (1466, Leuven - 1530, Antwerp) Musée du Louvre, Paris The money changer and his wife Banking and money changing were relatively new professions at the beginning of the 16th century. In a rapidly changing society, commerce and money were becoming increasingly important. The church warned against the resulting abuses. The man in this panel is absorbed in his work: weighing coins and determining their gold content. His wife watches attentively. This is an early ‘genre piece’: it is not a portrait but depicts a scene from everyday life. Such scenes often contain a…

Picasso, Pablo_Guernica

Guerníca is a painting by Picasso from 1937. The painting, measuring an enormous 3.49 m high and 7.76 m wide, depicts the bombing of Guernica (1937) during the Spanish Civil War. Guernica is on display at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) ♦ Background In the winter (January) of 1937, Picasso accepted a commission from the Republican government to create a painting for the Paris Expo. He had little inspiration during the first few months, producing no more than a few sketches. Op On April 26, 1937, the Basque village of Guernica was bombed by German …

Dou, Gerard_the Quack Doctor

Gerard Dou Gerrit Dou, also known as Gerard Dou, (Leiden, April 7, 1613 – buried there, February 9, 1675), was a Dutch painter. ♦ The quack deceives people, and people want to be deceived. At every fair or annual market in the 17th century, there was bound to be a quack doctor, and here you can see one depicted with his audience. Everything has been carefully staged. The quack doctor is dressed in a kind of velvet theater costume. He praises his wares, the undoubtedly unreliable contents of a small bottle. A document with a wax seal must convince people of its effectiveness. There …

Memling, Hans_Two horses in a landscape

Two horses in a landscape (allegory of true love) The prince on the white horse in this painting by Hans Memling is a monkey. It is an allegory of love, but its meaning is difficult to fathom as the work is no longer complete. It was probably part of a diptych. The left-hand panel is in an American collection. It is a portrait of a woman with a flower in her hand, a sign that she is in love. In this context, the brown horse would symbolize loyalty and passion; it looks longingly to the left, where the woman would be. The white horse represents the cool, indifferent lover. It has no interest in…

Bosch, Hieronymus – The Peddler

Jheronimus Bosch (1450–1516) (Boijmans Van Beuningen) Jheronimus Bosch is known for his densely packed paintings, which are, as it were, a cacophony of scenes on a single canvas. ♦♦ Description of The Pedlar ♦ The painting symbolizes the journey of a human being through life. That one does not get through life unscathed is shown by the hole in his trousers and the bandage around his leg. The basket on the man’s back represents the burden that every person carries with them. Everything in this painting has a meaning, but exactly what that meaning is remains a matte…

Rembrandt_Elsje Christiaens

♦ Christiaens, Elsje ♦ (born in Jutland around 1646 – died in Amsterdam around May 1, 1664), servant, sentenced to death for murdering her landlady. Around April 14, 1664, Elsje Christiaens, an 18-year-old from Sprouwen (possibly the island of Sprogo) in Jutland, arrived in Amsterdam. She hoped to find work as a maid and rented a room from a woman who provided lodging. At the end of that same month, the landlady wanted a daalder for lodging, which she could not pay. The landlady then threatened to confiscate her chest of belongings. When they argued about this, the woman hit …

Fra Angelico_Annunciation

Mary Fra Angelico (1399-1455) ♦ De annunciation ♦ (Museo Diocesano, Cortona) Of the four evangelists, only Luke describes the moment when Mary learns that she will become the mother of the Son of God. Her consent marks the beginning of God's plan to redeem humanity from the original sin committed by Adam and Eve through Jesus' incarnation, death, and resurrection. In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to a girl who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The girl's name was Mary. Gabriel entered her house …

Rembrandt_Abraham and the Three Angels

Rembrandt (1606-1669) After God had announced to 99-year-old Abraham the birth of a son, whom he was to name Isaac (“he who laughs”; Genesis 17), he appeared to Abraham again, at the oaks of Mamre. At the hottest part of the day, Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent. When he looked up, he suddenly saw three men standing a little way off. He immediately rushed out of the tent to meet them. He bowed deeply and said, "Sir, please do not pass your servant by. I will have some water brought for you to wash your feet, and you can make yourselves comfortable here under the…

Courbet, Gustave_The painters Studio

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) Courbet, the father of French realism, was born in 1819 in the provincial town of Ornans. Dissatisfied with the traditional teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he took lessons at private art academies and taught himself by copying old masters in the Louvre. In doing so, he developed a particular fondness for the work of Caravaggio and Velázquez. Courbet exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1844. He had radical political views and refused the Légion d'Honneur offered to him by Napoleon III. He was a supporter of the Commune and in…

Botticelli, Sandro_Primavera / Spring

Sandro Botticelli (1446–1510) ♦ Primavera means Spring It measures 203 × 314 cm. It was painted around 1477 and was almost certainly commissioned as a wedding gift for a nephew of Lorenzo de’ Medici, ‘Il Magnifico,’ and then hung in the couple’s bedroom. Afterwards, it fell into obscurity for hundreds of years, only to be rediscovered by the general public in the mid-19th century. The painting is the first work of the Renaissance in which pagan gods are depicted almost life-size, something previously reserved for religious subjects. The painting contin…

Velazquez, Diego_Las Meninas

Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) ♦ The first modern painting The magnificent and unusual family portrait *Las Meninas* is Diego Velázquez’s most famous and most talked-about work. The painting, which was created in 1656, depicts an interesting period from the 17th century and is still frequently studied by artists, students, and critics today. It is impossible to uncover the true meaning behind *Las Meninas*, and this was likely Velázquez’s intention as well. The painting raises many questions but offers no answers, leaving it up to the viewer to decide for themselve…

Bosch, Hieronymus_The Haywain triptych

Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516) (Boijmans van Beuningen) Hieronymus Bosch is known for his crowded paintings, which are, as it were, a cacophony of scenes on a single canvas. ♦ Description of the Haywain ♦♦ center panel - at the top, Christ is seen on a cloud, with his arms spread out, looking out over the people. - In the center is the hay cart itself, with a bush on top of it, in front of which sits a man playing the lute with a couple singing along. In the bush, a couple is kissing. - To their left is an angel praying to Christ. - To their right is a little devil who ap…

Magritte, Rene_Prohibited to depict

René Magritte, 1907-1984 La réproduction interdite, Boijmans van Beuningen. When Magritte was thirteen years old in 1912, his mother was found dead in the Sambre River. She had thrown herself into the water with a cloth covering her forehead. In his work, he refers to this tragedy several times with illustrations of a veiled woman whose face is covered. Magritte had two brothers: Raymond and Paul. Edward James was a wealthy English aristocrat and surrealist poet. In the 1930s, he supported Magritte and Dalí by purchasing their work. Magritte created this enigmatic portrait…

Dali, Salvadore_The Temptation of Saint Anthony

The Temptation of Saint Anthony is a surrealist painting by Salvador Dalí, created in 1946. It is one of Dalí's most famous works. This famous work by Dalí was painted for a competition organized by film producers Albert Lewin and David Loew. The painting was to play an important role in their film Bel Ami, based on a novella by Guy de Maupassant. Although Dalí did not win the competition with this work, it nevertheless attracted a great deal of attention. The theme of the temptation of Saint Anthony was intended to illustrate the struggle between good and evil …

Campin, Robert — Mérode Triptych

“Mérode Triptych / altarpiece” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1425-30) Robert Campin 1375-1445 (and Rogier van der Weyden) The name Mérode comes from the Belgian noble family, the last private owner before the work became the property of the Metropolitan Museum in 1956. For an altarpiece, it is quite small. This indicates that it was not made for a church, but for private use. In a recognizable, atmospheric bourgeois interior, Gabriel announces Mary’s pregnancy. The angel has entered quietly; Mary does not look up from her pious reading. She sits humb…

Géricault, Théodore_Medusas raft

The sad story of a shipwreck was the inspiration for one of the masterpieces in the Louvre in Paris. ♦ What is The Raft of the Medusa? ♦ Does the painting The Raft of the Medusa in the Louvre depict a real event? The Frenchman Théodore Géricault based his masterpiece on a real shipwreck. In 1816, the frigate Méduse ran aground on a sandbank 60 miles off the west coast of Africa. The disaster, which led to the deaths of 140 people on board (crew and passengers), attracted widespread attention throughout Europe due to the survivors' account, which discredited…

Leprosy

Veronese Bonifacio 1487 - October 19, 1553 ♦ The children of Lazarus ♦ There was no sound more feared in the Middle Ages than the piercing sound of the leper's bell. Those afflicted with Lazarus' disease were rejected by society and doomed to rot away among their fellow sufferers in the leper colony. A beggar named Lazarus lay at the gate of the rich man's house, covered with sores. He hoped to fill his stomach with what was left over from the rich man's table, but only dogs came and licked his sores. One day the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to res…

Dental caries

Jan Steen 1626, Leiden - 1679, Leiden, Netherlands ♦ The Traveling Dentist (1651) ♦ A traveling dentist has set up his little business in a Dutch village, where his actions provoke both bewilderment and hilarity among the onlookers. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Tooth extraction. Secondary symptoms: Boy. Clinical diagnosis: Tooth extraction due to caries. ♦ Definition: caries A localized, progressive decay of the teeth, beginning with the dissolution of tooth enamel by lactic acid and tartaric acid. The acids are the product of the action of enzymes from bacteria in the mo…

Melanoma or nevus (birthmark)

Diego Rodriquez de Silva y Velázquez 1599, Seville – August 6, 1660, Madrid, Spain ♦ Portrait of Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561-1627) ♦ Luis de Góngora y Argote was a famous Spanish poet. In 1626, he fell ill during a trip to the countryside. Afterwards, he complained that he could not remember anything about recent events, only things that had happened long ago. Overwhelmed by despair and limited in his movements, he died a year later in 1627. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Pigmented mole on the right temple. Secondary symptoms: Poet, 60 years old, dev…

Rhinophyma and rosacea_depression

Rembrandt Harmenz. van Rijn July 15, 1606, Leiden – October 4, 1669, Amsterdam, Netherlands ♦ Self-Portrait 1659 ♦ Rembrandt, aged 51 here, clasped his hands and turned his head. At first glance, it seems as though he is actually there. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Drooping of the eyebrows and eyelids, more pronounced on the left than on the right. Arcus senilis (a whitish-gray ring in the cornea) and xanthelasma, telangiectasia (dilated blood vessels) with a red nose and lesions on the chin, nose, and cheeks. Secondary symptoms: Male, 51 years old, prominent forehead, pa…

Alopecia areata (hair loss)

Francisco de Goya March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos, (Zaragosa), Spain - April 16, 1828, Bordeaux, France ♦ The Wedding 1792 ♦ This large caricature by Goya reveals his talent for satire. It depicts an arranged marriage from his time: the children, the musicians, the bride and groom—she is elegant, he is grotesque—the bride's friends, the priest, the witness, in short, everyone who takes part in the wedding party. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Oval patches with hair loss, smooth skin. Secundary symptoms: Boy, sloppy clothing Clinical diagnosis: Alopecia areata ♦ …

Fungal disease_Favus

Ferdinand Bol June 24, 1616, Dordrecht - August 24, 1680, Amsterdam, Netherlands Ferdinand Bol studeerde in Rembrandts studio omstreeks 1635. De meester beïnvloedde de jonge kunstenaar sterk. ♦ The Regents of the Leper Hospital in Amsterdam (1649) ♦ The doctors are wearing the typical attire of doctors from that era. Before they were admitted to the hospital and banished from society, candidates had to appear before a council of physicians. Here, a father requests that his son be admitted due to a silvery skin disease. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Thick greyish-white, mort…

Rhinoscleroma

Monogrammist N.N. 1645-1658 Artist from the Netherlands ♦ Old man with a growth on his nose ♦ This unidentified man with a growth on his nose is, judging by his attire (a black skirt, grayish-yellow fur, and a gousen medal), likely a nobleman. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Large, flat, and hard swelling of the nose. Secondary symptoms: An elderly man, richly dressed. Clinical diagnosis: Rhinoscleroma ♦ Definition: rhinoscleroma A new growth, almost as hard as stone, affects the nostrils and surrounding areas. The disease begins in the skin of the nasal vestibule and around…

Rhinophyma or bulbous nose

Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449, Florence – Jan. 11, 1494, Florence, Italy ♦ Old Man with a Child (Count Francesco Sassetti with his Grandson) 1490 ♦ Francesco Sassetti was a 15th-century banker and an influential patron of the arts. His portrait reflects the grace, dignity, inner calm, and robust bearing of old age. The portrait is regarded as Ghirlandaio’s masterful depiction of the intense bond between the old man and the child. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Hypotrophic thickening and nodular formation of the skin on the nose; naevus mollis in the temporal region. Secon…

Lovesick, pregnancy

Jan Steen 1626, Leiden - 1679, Leiden, Netherlands ♦ The doctor's visit ♦ A doctor feels the pulse of a sick girl with a theatrical gesture while the mother holds the urine bottle. A ribbon is burned in a dish. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Headache, burning ribbon. Secondary symptoms: Young girl, theatrical behavior of the doctor and mother, boy with bow and arrow, Venus and Adonis in a painting on the wall Clinical diagnosis: lovesickness, pregnancy. ♦ Definition: lovesickness Falling in love or suffering from unrequited love and other associated feelings of love can…

Extraction of the Stone of Madness

Hieronymus Bosch 1450, Den Bosch - 1516, Den Bosch, Netherlands The Extraction of the Stone of Madness ♦ The Extraction (1481) The inscription on the edge of this tondo reads as follows: ‘Meester snyt die Keye ras / myne name Is lubbert das’.Lubbert is Dutch for ‘simpleton, fool’ and literally meant ‘deprived of reproductive capacity’, ‘castrated’ or ‘unfaithful’. Because this inscription quotes a Dutch saying - ‘jemand van die keye snyden’, which means to cure someone of their madness - the hypothesis has been put f…

Manic Depression Psychosis

Vincent van Gogh March 30, 1853, Zundert, Netherlands - July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France Vincent van Gogh wrote in his ‘W 11 1889’: 'As for myself, I often feel uncomfortable in my head, because I think my life has not been peaceful enough. All those bitter disappointments, setbacks, and changes have prevented me from developing my artistic career fully and naturally.' ♦ Self-portrait with bandaged ear (1889) ♦ ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Piece of left ear cut off (on September 23, 1888). Secondary symptoms: Poor artist, 35 years old, had recently had…

Insanity - Malle Babbe (1640)

Frans Hals 1582/83, Antwerp, Belgium - September 1, 1666, Haarlem, Netherlands Frans Hals was born in Antwerp to Flemish parents who fled to the Netherlands after the city fell to the Spanish in 1585. His parents settled in Haarlem in 1591 and remained there for the rest of their lives. Frans married twice, had at least ten children, and was constantly in financial trouble. During the last years of his life, he was completely penniless, but the municipal authorities of Haarlem granted him a small annual stipend four years before his death. He is considered one of the most brilliant portrait pa…

Psychoneurosis (acute)

Jusepe de Ribera 1591, Játiva, Valencia - 1652, Naples, Italy Jusepe de Ribera, nicknamed La Spagnoletto (the little Spaniard), was a Spanish painter and printmaker, known for his Baroque dramatic realism. ♦ Desperate woman ♦ A woman with a white scarf around her shoulders runs away, calling for help. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Contorted face, screaming mouth, pulling at her hair. Secondary symptoms: Young woman, pale, runs away. Clinical diagnosis: Acute psychoneurosis. ♦ Definition: psychoneurosis A term used to describe a large group of clinical disorders that…

Murder (pneumothorax, arterial bleeding)

Jaques-Louis David August 30, 1748, Paris, France – December 29, 1825, Brussels, Belgium ♦ The Assassination of Marat (1793) ♦ This painting is also known as The Pietà of the Revolution. The divine journalist Marat, with one hand hanging over the edge of his bathtub, loosely holding his last pen, his chest pierced by the sacrilegious wound, has just breathed his last breath. On the green writing desk placed in front of him on the bathtub, he is still holding the treacherous letter addressed to citoyen Marat with his other hand: ‘It suffices that I am unhappy to b…

Membranous glomerulonephritis

Gerard (Gerrit) Dou April 7, 1613, Leiden – February 9, 1675, Leiden, Netherlands Gerard Dou was the son of a glass painter trained as an engraver. He worked in the studio of the young Rembrandt. Although he occasionally ‘borrowed’ themes from Rembrandt, he was more detailed and meticulous in his execution. His scenes of middle-class domestic life were extremely popular and were often imitated. ♦ The woman with dropsy ♦ A very sick woman is being cared for in a Dutch patrician house while she is fed with a spoon and mourned by her daughter. A doctor, wearing a lon…

Lymph node tumor (lymphoma), non-Hodgkin

Marinus van Reymerswaele 1490, Reymerswael - 1567, Reymerswael, Zeeland Marinus van Reymerswaele is one of the most important painters of the Antwerp school in the 16th century. He adopted the excellent painting style of Quinten Massijs, and his works are therefore strongly influenced by it. ♦ The money changer and his wife (1539) ♦ This painting is not intended, as it may seem, as a mere simple genre scene. It is a moral allegory of greed. The people in the painting are fascinated or, better yet, hypnotized by the gold. The woman stops reading and lets her gaze wander over the mon…

Diphtheria

Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos (Zaragoza), Spain – April 16, 1828, Bordeaux, France Goya is one of the most characteristic Spanish artists of all time and also one of the best European painters and engravers of the 19th century. His enormous and highly varied output of paintings, drawings, and engravings, depicting many aspects of everyday life, provide a good insight into a period of political and social unrest in Europe during the Napoleonic years. He was a genius and a revolutionary artist who influenced the artistic movements from Romanticism and Realism to…

Otitis media (acute middle ear infection)

Pablo Picasso October 25, 1881, Malaga, Spain – April 8, 1973, Mougins, France Pablo Picasso's Blue Period was characterized by sadness and melancholy, both in his personal life and in the pitiful figures he painted on his canvases. His powerful, creative personality led him to abandon the figurative style that was the norm in his day in favor of an independent and decisive character in his work. In any case, there is a lot of soul in the paintings from this blue period. One of the best known is The Sick Child, also known as Mother and Child, a canvas brimming with tenderness. &diams…

Measles / Rubella? (acute viral infection)

Gabriel Metsu 1629, Leiden - 1667, Amsterdam, Netherland Gabriel Metsu was born in Leiden, the son of a Flemish painter who had fled to the north. He was a pupil of Gerrit Dou, a painter of genre scenes and the founder of the so-called ‘fine painting school’, which was characterized by its excellent finish. ♦ The sick child ♦ A feverish child, a bowl of porridge on a small table, and a worried mother. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Fever, measles-like rash, vasospasms on the face and legs. Secondary symptoms: Young girl, 6-10 years old, well developed, normal weight. …

Pseudopregnancy

Jan van Eyck 1390, Maaseik – July 19, 1441, Bruges, Belgium ♦ The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfi (1434) ♦ Jan van Eyck painted and documented here, in his extremely realistic and colorful style, an event from everyday life in the city: the marriage of Giovanni Arnolfi. The man wears a cloak resembling a scapular (a shoulder cloth for members of the older order) made of mink fur and a large, wide hat. He is the Italian merchant Arnolfi, who ran Marco Guidecom's Lucchese company in Bruges, the city where Jan van Eyck lived and worked. We know from documents that his wife'…

Breast development (delayed)

Piero di Cosimo 1462, Florence – 1521, Florence, Italy ♦ Simonetta Vespucci (1453–1476) ♦ The young woman in Piero di Cosimo's painting wears an elegant braided hairstyle in the style of a donna: a complex arrangement of braids, decorated with pearls and interwoven with strings of pearls. Her high forehead is shaved according to the fashion that was in vogue in Italian and Dutch aristocratic circles in the last quarter of the 15th century. There is a certain melancholy in the repetitive shapes of the evening clouds, with which the painter may have wanted to evoke th…

Eye surgery

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn July 15, 1606, Leiden - October 14, 1669, Amsterdam, Netherlands ♦ Tobias heals his blind father / Tobit and Angel Healing ♦ Tobit, Tobias' father, lived in exile and became blind—at least according to the Bible—after burying children of Israel. 'I came home in the middle of the night, washed myself, and lay down to sleep against the wall of the courtyard. Because it was so warm, I left my face uncovered. But I hadn't seen that there were sparrows sitting on the wall above me. Their still-warm droppings fell into my eyes and forme…

Hunger edema

José Aparicio e Inglada 1770, Alicante - 1838, Madrid, Spain Patriotic guards assist Madrid's starving citizens during the French invasion ♦ Hunger in Madrid (Hambre en Madrid), 1818 ♦ Although José Aparicio e Inglada undoubtedly had didactic and moralizing intentions with his paintings, they are actually more rhetorical, theatrical, and flattering, which explains their unwavering success in official circles. He became very popular with patriotic and nationalistic works such as Hunger in Madrid. ♦ Diagnosis Important symptoms: Severe edema of the lower limbs…

Gigantism and Acromegaly

Jan van Eyck 1390, Maaseik – July 19, 1441, Bruges, Belgium ♦ Panel depicting the hermits and pilgrims / The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb ♦ The man in this painting is a giant. He is at least one-third larger than the others. He is Saint Christopher, who, according to legend, carried pilgrims, including Christ, across the river. ♦ Diagnosis Important features: large man, giant. Left foot is deformed (clubfoot or equino varus) and his big toe is crooked (hallux valgus). Side effects: man Clinical diagnosis: gigantism, acromegaly, secondary osteoarthritis. ♦ Definit…

Progeria

Albrecht Dürer May 21, 1471, Nuremberg – April 6, 1528, Nuremberg, Germany This painting is the last work Dürer ever created. It testifies to Dürer's curiosity to portray the unusual. ♦ Child with a long beard (1527) ♦ ♦ Diagnosis Important symptoms: juvenile, gray hair and beard Secondary symptoms: child with fine skin texture Clinical symptoms: progeria ♦ Definition: progeria Premature senility: a condition with symptoms of both infantilism and senility. The premature aging may be due to an extreme degree of arteriosclerosis (arteriosclerosis)…

Rachitic chest

Jusepe de Ribera 1591, Játiva, Valencia - 1652, Naples, Italy Ribera was a pupil of Caravaggio, and this is evident in his paintings, which display an extremely naturalistic approach and feature the same ‘dark’ light with which he manages to portray powerful, sculptural figures. By casting a bright light on certain parts of the painting, he draws attention, while carefully omitting other elements and constructing his composition in simple patterns. Ribera is primarily known as one of the most important painters of ascetic saints, hermits, heroic martyrs, and old men with wri…

Flat foot and Pointed Foot

Master LCZ 1480 - 1505 ♦ Christ stands before Pilate ♦ Christ is brought before Pilate by a roaring crowd, who gestures to him: ‘I have nothing to do with this man’. Christ is barefoot while the others wear shoes. Pilate in particular is wearing very fashionable shoes. ♦ Diagnosis Significant symptoms: right foot turned outwards and shortened forefoot, flat foot. Secondary symptoms: x-toe (halgus vallus) Clinical diagnosis: flat foot on the left foot ♦ Definition: congenital vertical ankle bone This condition is characterized by a clubfoot (pes equinus) and …

Goiter (struma)

Rogier van der Weyden 1399, Tournai – June 18, 1464, Brussels, Belgium België ♦ The Virgin with the Child (Virgin duran), 1435-1440 ♦ A calm child sits on his mother's lap and crumples the pages of the book his mother is reading. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: General enlargement of the thyroid gland. Secondary symptoms: Female Clinical diagnosis: Goiter (struma) ♦ Definition: goiter (struma) The term refers to an enlargement of the thyroid gland and does not imply any change in function or any particular change in the tissue. ♦ Discussion Goiter occurs…

Hare lip (cheiloschisis) / cleft palate

Juan de Flandes 1465, Belgium-1519, Valencia, Spain Juan de Flandes, a Flemish painter, was active in Spain from 1496 onwards. He entered the service of Queen Isabella, who appointed him court painter in 1498. ♦ The Beheading of John the Baptist from the Miraflores Altarpiece ♦ ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Split upper lip. Side effect: Man, executioner. Clinical diagnosis: Cleft lip (cheiloschisis); cleft palate. ♦ Definition: hare lip (cheiloschisis) Congenital abnormality in which the upper lip has a cleft or split. This may be a single opening in the middle of the lip,…

Agenesia Sacrale (a rare congenital disorder in which the fetal development of the lower spine)

Pieter Brueghel the Younger 1564, Brussels - 1667, Antwerp, Belgium Pieter Breughel the Younger was the eldest of two sons, born shortly after the death of their father, Pieter Breughel. (The father spelled his name as ‘Breughel’ until 1559, then as ‘Brueghel’. The sons retained the ‘h’ in the spelling of their names). The young Breughel is also known as Hellebreughel because of his fondness for goblins, fire, and grotesque figures. He made his career in Antwerp, where he became a master of the guild in 1585. He is best known as a copyist of his father's…

Arthrogryposis congenita (birth defect, joints contracted)

Master of Alkmaar 1490–1510, Alkmaar, Netherlands ♦ Feed the hungry ♦ A woman stands in the doorway of her home with a basket of bread that her husband distributes to the poor and crippled. Christ stands among the hungry. In the background is a beggar with a lute. Part of a series of seven paintings depicting the seven works of mercy. ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Deformed foot; severe clubfoot, paralyzed, unusable lower legs. Secondary symptoms: Edema on the legs, crutches. Clinical diagnosis: Arthrogryposis ♦ Definition: arthrogryposis Arthrogryposis multiplex cong…

Prepatellar bursitis

Gaspar de Crayer 1584, Antwerp–1669, Ghent, Belgium The meeting between the classical Greek ruler Alexander the Great and the Greek philosopher Diogenes was a popular subject in Italian and Flemish Baroque painting. Crayer was a pupil of Rubens and was also influenced by van Dyck. ♦ Alexander the Great and Diogenes (1620) ♦ When Alexander the Great, ruler of the world, asked the philosopher Diogenes what he wanted most, he replied: ‘Move out of my sunlight’. The contrast between the handsome, young hero and the poor old man, whose life is an example of asceticism,…

Paget's disease

Quinten Metsijs 1465, Leuven – 1530, Antwerp, Belgium Metsijs was born in Leuven and completed his apprenticeship under the influence of Bouts. We don't know if he also traveled to Italy to study art, as was customary at the time. His work, which is rooted in Flemish traditions, does, however, show Italian influences, particularly those of Leonardo da Vinci. ♦ Grotesque old woman ♦ This painting depicts an elderly woman holding a rosebud between her fingers. She is wearing a dress with a low-cut neckline and an Italian-style headpiece. The realism of every detail and the …

Osteoarthritis / hallux valgus

Jan van Eyck 1390, Maaseik – July 19, 1441, Ghent, Belgium Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter who perfected the newly developed oil painting technique. His naturalistic panel paintings, mainly portraits and religious subjects, are abundantly dotted with hidden religious symbols. His masterpiece is the altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, created for Ghent Cathedral. According to some, Hubert van Eyck, Jan's brother, began the painting. ♦ Panel of Saint John the Baptist from the Ghent Altarpiece ♦ Saint John the Baptist is holding a large prayer book and, judging b…

Artritis psoriatica (inflammatory disease of the joint)

Vincent van Gogh March 30, 1853, Zundert, Netherlands - July 27, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France Van Gogh is widely regarded as the greatest Dutch painter and draughtsman since Rembrandt. He had a profound influence on the Expressionist movement in modern art. His work, painted in a period of barely 10 years, is haunting in its striking colors, rough brushwork, and abstract forms. ♦ La Berceuse ♦ Van Gogh painted five versions of La Berceuse. They depict Madame Roulin, wife of postman Joseph Roulin, holding a rope in her hand with which she rocks an (invisible) cradle. ♦ Diagno…

Artritis reumatoïde

Jacob Jordaens 1593, Antwerp – 1678, Antwerp, Belgium ♦ The painter's family ♦ In this painting, Jordaens depicts himself surrounded by his household members. The painter himself stands on the right, with one foot casually resting on the crossbar of a chair, while his hand seeks support on the backrest. With his left hand, he holds the neck of the lute. His wife, elegantly dressed and wearing a large collar, is depicted on the left. She is sitting on a low chair and her right arm loosely embraces a girl. The child is holding a basket of flowers in one hand and an apple in…

Herpes zoster (shingles)

Rembrandt van Rijn July 15, 1606, Leiden - October 14, 1669, Amsterdam, Netherlands ♦ Rembrandts mother 1639 ♦ Rembrandt painted his mother a year before she died. She is leaning on a walking stick and wearing a Jewish prayer cap, representing the prophetess Anna, aged 84, as described in Luke 2:36-38: 'There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had lived a long life: after her maidenhood, she had lived with her husband for seven years and had been a widow for about 84 years. She never left the sanctuary, fasting and praying, worshipp…

Rheumatic fever (acute)

Jan Steen 1626, Leiden – 1697, Leiden, Netherlands Jan Steen is best known for his humorous genre paintings, warm and lively works in which he depicts life as a comedy full of quirks. However, he also painted scenes of impeccable elegance. In addition to his versatility, his rich characterization, and his ingenuity in composition, Steen is also remarkable for his skill as a colorist. The way he renders salmon red, pink, pale yellow, and blue-green is quite extraordinary. Sick woman An older doctor is taking the pulse of a young woman sitting in a chair, her head resting on a pillow place…

Parotitis (mumps)

Pedro Machuca 1490, Toledo - 1550, Granada, Spain Trained in Italy, Machuca paints this moonlit descent from the cross in a mannerist style, using bright colors and surprising details. For example, at the front right there is a sick boy with a bandage around his head. ♦ The Descent from the Cross, 1547 ♦ ♦ Diagnosis Main symptoms: Swollen left cheek, supportive bandage with cotton, wool, and ointment; pained expression, sunken nose, large forehead. Secondary symptoms: Small boy. Clinical diagnosis: Parotitis epidemica, mumps. ♦ Definition: mumps An acute infectious dise…

Syphilis (hard chancre)

Piedro Longhi November 5, 1701, Venice - May 8, 1785, Venice, Italy Piedro Longhi is an Italian genre painter who depicts his scenes as if on a theater stage, possibly because he was a close friend of playwright Carlo Goldoni. ♦ The pharmacist ♦ A young woman is being treated locally by a pharmacist in a typical 18th-century pharmacy. Bottles, jars, glasses with reagents, mortars, and boxes fill the room. An assistant is writing a prescription; two people are waiting to be served, and a young assistant is warming up a remedy. The aloe plant refers to its healing properties as clean…

Influenza Epidemic of 1858

Honoré-Victorien Daumier 26 February 1808, Marseille – 11 February 1879, Valmondois, France Honoré Daumier is France’s greatest caricaturist and political and social satirist. During his career, he produced around 5,000 lithographs, 300 paintings, 800 drawings, 1,000 woodcuts, and 50 sculptures. ♦ Omnibus During an Influenza Epidemic (1858) ♦ ♦ Diagnosis: Main symptoms: Irritating cough in young and old, runny nose, shivering. Associated symptoms: Crowded location, fatigue, headache, warm clothing. Clinical diagnosis: Influenza (flu), epidemic. &diam…

Polio

18th Dynasty, Egypt (ca 1400 BC) This Egyptian mural from around 1400 BC depicts the poor doorkeeper Ruma bringing an offering to the goddess Ishtar to heal him of his lameness. ♦ Painted stele of the doorkeeper Ruma ♦ ♦ Diagnosis: Main symptoms: wasted muscles, shortened right leg, contracted Achilles tendon Secondary symptoms: young man, uses a long cane Clinical diagnosis: acute anterior poliomyelitis ♦ Definition: acute anterior poliomyelitis A viral inflammation of the anterior nodules of the gray matter of the spinal cord. It occurs mainly in children, where it le…

Pulmonary tuberculosis

Edvard Munch Dec. 12, 1863, Løten – Jan. 23, 1944, Oslo, Norway Whether Munch painted landscapes, portraits, mythological subjects, or workers returning from work, and whether his colors were dark or light, his work always expresses fear, death, and love. ♦ The sick child (1885) ♦ ♦ Diagnosis: Main symptoms: Exhausted adolescent, pale complexion, vacant stare Secondary symptoms: 15-year-old girl, distraught mother, family history of tuberculosis Clinical diagnosis: Consumption (tuberculosis), end-stage (pulmonary) tuberculosis ♦ Definition: ftisis An old te…

Osteomyelitis

Giovanni Battista Crespi, genaamd Il Cerano 1557, Novara - October 23, 1632, Milan, Italy ♦ Painting from the series Miracles of Saint Charles Borromeo ♦ Saint Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) was appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Milan in 1560 by his uncle, the newly elected Pope Pius IV. He held this position until his death in 1584. Charles was one of the great reformers of the Church. He served at the Council of Trent and then worked in his diocese to implement the reforms requested by this council. He worked tirelessly for the poor, especially after the plague broke out in Milan. H…

Pseudohermafroditism

Jusepe de Ribera 1591, Játiva, Valencia - 1652, Naples, Italy ♦ Magdelena Ventura, the woman with the beard ♦ The painting of the bearded woman, Magdelena Ventura, with her husband and child, was commissioned from Jusepe de Ribera in 1631 by Ferdinand II, 3rd Duke of Alcala and Viceroy of Naples. The painting bears an inscription with the following text: Magdelena Ventura, the great wonder of nature, from the city of Accumole in central Italy, aged 52 years. ♦ Diagnosis: Main symptoms: long beard, receding hairline, bald forehead Secondary symptoms: firm, swollen breas…

Bubonic plague

Titiaan (Tiziano Gregorio Vecello) 490, Pieve di Cadore – 27 August 1576, Venice, Italy When the Black Plague was raging in Venice, Titian was working in Padua on frescoes for the Scuola del Santo depicting the life of Saint Anthony. Titian, one of the most important masters of the Italian Renaissance and a pupil of Bellini, collaborated with Giorgione. This early work was originally attributed to Giorgione, but is now considered to be a piece that Titian painted shortly before Giorgione’s death. ♦ The Virgin Mary, Saint Anthony, and Saint Roch (1510) ♦ ♦ Diagnosi…

Neurofibromatosis

Vincent van Gogh 30-3-1853, Zundert, Ned - 27-7-1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France ♦ The one-eyed person with a swollen face ♦ Portrait of a Man with One Eye. The One-Eyed Man with the Swollen Face (1888) was made when Van Gogh was admitted to a mental institution. ♦ Diagnosis: Main symptoms: a swollen left upper eyelid, which pushes the eyebrow upward and closes the eye ♦ Clinical diagnosis: Neurofibromatosis, Recklinghausen disease ♦ Definition: neurofibromatosis The disease is characterized by the presence of tumors (neurofibromas) in or under the skin, originating …