Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: The Ugly Duchess

  • The beauty of nature and the nature of beauty

    Michael BaumLondon, England Do not all charms fly / At the mere touch of cold philosophy? / There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: / We know her woof, her texture; she is given / In the dull catalogue of common things. / Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings / Conquer all mysteries by rule…

  • About face: from revulsion to compassion

    Sylvia R. Karasu New York City, New York, United States   L’antigrazioso (“Anti-graceful”) by Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916), demonstrating an artist’s abstract rendition of asymmetrical, deformed features.4 Skin Graft (Transplantation) (1924) by Otto Dix1 Winter, 1563 by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593) demonstrating an artist’s rendition of grossly deformed features5   “I was too ugly to go to school,”…

  • Quentin Massys – The Ugly Duchess

    Flemish artist Quentin Massys (1465–1523) was born in Louvain and worked in Antwerp, where he painted many exquisite works of art. In 1513, he painted the portrait of An Old Woman, popularly known as The Ugly Duchess. Perhaps the best known of his works, it may be a portrait of Margaret, countess of Tyrol and…