A History of Otolaryngology through Artists’ Eyes
Emma Cashman, MRCSI for the Otolarynogology Historical Society Art from the Renaissance through the 19th century provides some fascinating insights into historical perceptions of otolaryngology-related disease. For instance, Michelangelo was a perfectionist in his art and enthralled by anatomy. In much of his middle life, he dissected corpses and at one point toyed with the idea of publishing a treatise on anatomy with eminent physician Realdo Colombo, who is credited with distinguishing the thyroid gland as a separate organ. The presence of a goiter in Michelangelo’s Separation of Light from Darkness is well documented. Additionally, the Last Judgment, a masterpiece of Michelangelo’s later years, clearly depicts a woman with the classical signs of exophthalmos. Since the latest restoration in the 1990s, the presence of a small hemorrhage in the lower corner of her eyelid is now clearly visible. Both Rembrandt’s and Van Gogh’s ears have long been the source of speculation. Several lesser known works of art, however, provide an interesting historical insight into medieval perceptions of head and neck pathology. The central figure in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s An Old Man and His Grandson is the gentleman’s nose, which shows evidence of a rhinophyma. Does Piero di Cosimo’s A Satyr Mourning over a Nymph, currently housed in the National Gallery, London, represent the 15th century approach to tracheotomy? Sculpted depictions of facial trauma and, in particular, auricular hematomas, date back to antiquity. More recently, however, Rodin’s bust of fellow-sculptor Jules Dalou in 1889 provides a remarkably accurate portrayal of his subject’s deviated nasal anatomy. Robert C. Hinckley’s depiction of the first successful demonstration of anesthesia in 1846 (The First Operation Under Ether) commemorates an important landmark in surgical history. Hinckley purposely chose a large canvas to emphasize the importance of the event. The work depicts the patient sitting in a chair with his neck exposed for excision of a tumor of his jaw.
Emma Cashman, MRCSI for the Otolarynogology Historical Society
Art from the Renaissance through the 19th century provides some fascinating insights into historical perceptions of otolaryngology-related disease.
For instance, Michelangelo was a perfectionist in his art and enthralled by anatomy. In much of his middle life, he dissected corpses and at one point toyed with the idea of publishing a treatise on anatomy with eminent physician Realdo Colombo, who is credited with distinguishing the thyroid gland as a separate organ. The presence of a goiter in Michelangelo’s Separation of Light from Darkness is well documented.
Additionally, the Last Judgment, a masterpiece of Michelangelo’s later years, clearly depicts a woman with the classical signs of exophthalmos. Since the latest restoration in the 1990s, the presence of a small hemorrhage in the lower corner of her eyelid is now clearly visible.
Both Rembrandt’s and Van Gogh’s ears have long been the source of speculation. Several lesser known works of art, however, provide an interesting historical insight into medieval perceptions of head and neck pathology.
The central figure in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s An Old Man and His Grandson is the gentleman’s nose, which shows evidence of a rhinophyma. Does Piero di Cosimo’s A Satyr Mourning over a Nymph, currently housed in the National Gallery, London, represent the 15th century approach to tracheotomy?
Sculpted depictions of facial trauma and, in particular, auricular hematomas, date back to antiquity. More recently, however, Rodin’s bust of fellow-sculptor Jules Dalou in 1889 provides a remarkably accurate portrayal of his subject’s deviated nasal anatomy.
Robert C. Hinckley’s depiction of the first successful demonstration of anesthesia in 1846 (The First Operation Under Ether) commemorates an important landmark in surgical history. Hinckley purposely chose a large canvas to emphasize the importance of the event. The work depicts the patient sitting in a chair with his neck exposed for excision of a tumor of his jaw.
