Tag: Art Flashes
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The canon’s vision
Óscar Lamas FilgueiraValencia, Spain In medicine, we rely on images every day—photographs, X‑rays, scans—that reveal truths our eyes alone cannot grasp. But centuries ago, physicians and healers had no such tools. Their understanding of illness had to be drawn from observation, testimony, and sometimes, from the works of artists who captured the marks of disease…
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The death of Raphael
The famous High Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio was working at the court of Pope Julius II when he developed an acute illness that killed him within fifteen days. His body was publicly displayed and mourned in the Vatican, and he was buried in the Pantheon, an honor reserved only for Rome’s most revered figures. No…
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Gustav Klimt (1862–1918): Medical aspects
The renowned Austrian painter Gustav Klimt lived and worked in Vienna during a period of unprecedented medical advances. The capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had become a world center for innovation in clinical medicine, therapeutics, and surgery. It had also become the site of a new understanding of psychiatry and psychology, in great part due…
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Caravaggio: Beauty and crime intertwined
Born in Milan in 1571 and orphaned by the plague in 1577, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio made his way to Rome in 1592, where he enrolled the lowlife of the city, its prostitutes, thieves, and other undesirables, in order to paint the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the Apostles and saints of the New Testament and…
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Titian: The mastery of color and the perils of paint
Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/90–1576) hailed from Pieve di Cadore, near Venice. He trained first in the workshop of the mosaicist Sebastiano Zuccato and subsequently with the acclaimed Giovanni Bellini, while his close relationship and collaboration with the influential Giorgione greatly shaped his early style. Titian’s early commissions included the Scuola di San Antonio frescoes in…
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The Trinity Plague Column in Budapest
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England In the Buda Castle district of the city of Budapest, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there is an elegant square in front of the famous centuries-old Matthias Church with its imposing Gothic spire. This site was a mosque during the Ottoman invasion before being rebuilt as a church in a Baroque style in…
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Dominique-Vivant Denon, first director of the Louvre
Dominique-Vivant Denon (1747–1825) was a polymath whose career spanned art, archaeology, diplomacy, and museum curation. Born into minor nobility on January 4, 1747, in Givry, Burgundy, he became one of the most influential cultural figures of his time. After studying law in Paris, Denon switched to a diplomatic career, serving under Louis XV and Louis…
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Medical portraits of Max Liebermann
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Max Liebermann was one of Germany’s most influential painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, recognized primarily for his Impressionist style and leadership in German modernism. Durin his long career, Liebermann painted several medical persons who achieved considerable recognition during his time and are still regarded as pioneers in…
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Robert Pope’s painting, Mountain
P. Ravi ShankarKuala Lumpur, Malaysia Robert Pope, a Canadian artist, left behind an important collection of work dealing with illness and healing. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1956, he died of Hodgkin’s disease in 1992. He has created a series of paintings and sketches about his experience as a cancer patient.1 His painting, Mountain,…