Medicine in Art (Broché)

This abundantly illustrated book presents depictions of illness and healing in Western art, from Egyptian wall carvings to medieval manuscripts, from paintings and sculpture by Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo to the works of twentieth-century artists, including Matisse and Magritte. Before the twentieth century, there were few reliable medical treatments, and even minor illnesses could lead to death or chronic disability.
It is not surprising, therefore, that diseases—especially the scourge of the plague, which swept across Europe from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century—have figured prominently in the visual arts. The poor were especially vulnerable, and artists often identified poverty with illness, and vice versa. Illness or physical disability could also be portrayed as a symbol of humanity's sinful nature or as an allegory for social injustice.
In addition to examining a range of physical ailments, the authors discuss mental and emotional afflictions as portrayed by such artists as Hieronymous Bosch in his sixteenth-century painting Ship of Fools, and Géricault and Van Gogh in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, revealing how social attitudes toward mental illness have changed over time. The authors present the healing efforts of a range of medical practitioners and other caregivers ; doctors are portrayed conducting exams, administering medicine, and performing surgeries and autopsies ; and nurses and religious figures are seen offering care and compassion to the afflicted.
The final chapters are devoted to the suffering of patients and their pursuit of cures—including miracles—through prayer and pilgrimage. Artists have captured the solitude of patients imprisoned in their suffering as well as the efforts of their caregivers to ease their pain, especially in portrayals of mothers ministering to their sick children.