Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: congenital syphilis

  • Diego Rivera and Hernan Cortes

    Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain Diego Rivera was one of Mexico’s most famous artists. Nowadays he is also known for his marriage to Frida Kahlo, another great Mexican artist. Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Rivera was an atheist and a Communist radical who criticized the Mexican government and foreign domination. He created the History of Mexico mural in…

  • Did Macbeth have syphilis?

    Eleanor J. Molloy Dublin, Ireland   Gerard De Lairesse suffered from congenital syphilis. Image: Portrait of Gerard de Lairesse. Rembrandt van Rijn. 1665–67. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain. Introduction Syphilis was endemic in Elizabethan England and it was estimated that nearly 20% of the population of London were infected.1 The signs and symptoms…

  • Sir George Frederick Still (1868-1941): the constant pediatrician

    Joseph deBettencourt Chicago, Illinois, United States   Portrait of George Frederic Still, while he was working at King’s College Hospital in the early 1900’s. By Gerald Festus Kelly, date unknown, UK Wellcome Collection. licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) Coursing through the heart of Salisbury, a historic cathedral city in Wiltshire, England,…

  • The Dead Mother Series of Egon Schiele: psychoanalytic use of an artist’s image

    Prudence L. Gourguechon Paper presented at the Hektoen Institute of Medicine on Nov. 6, 2007Revised for publication in Hektoen International, Vol. 2, Jan. 2009 Introduction Two intensely creative men lived and worked in early 20th century Vienna, both intent on elucidating aspects of the darker side of the human psyche. There is no evidence that…