From Engelhardt's Diabetes: Its Medical and Cultural History

Olaus Rudbeck

Would-be discoverer of Atlantis, creator of the Gustavinium, and all-around Swedish badass. Read more about him on Wikipedia.

A Poem on Anatomy from 1646

A Quote from Barlaeus, "On the Anatomical Table":

You learn to understand through what specific flaw each single part succumbs, under which rule it may rise again, as well as the astonishing accidents of the human forum. To this one greed was detrimental or mad lust, This one was destroyed by furor, that one by the pernicious admixture of the water he had drunk. Just as we die in a thousand different ways, we are wounded not just by one cause alone. Now, it will be the sea, then the land, finally the pernicious air that does the damage. The elements, which are favorable in the whole, are detrimental to the cure. And life's thread is cut by an enemy forever different."

Saints, Demons, Death, and the Devil for Metal Dudes, Part I

This post is dedicated to a friend who has been scrupulously studying the works of Albrecht Dürer to make a film for his compositions. I am lucky enough to be a sounding board for the script and process, which has been wildly inspiring.

First are some images by Dürer.

Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513

Melancholia I, 1514

St. Jerome in his Study, 1514

These will be the main parts of the film, featuring the characters in various ways, often indirect, as well as common themes such as the hourglass. 

One of his earlier prints is also of note, since he had nearly perfected his ideas of proportion and plays with the idea of the humors. And who doesn't love that goat in the top right corner?

Adam and Eve, 1504

I should also note that there are some great bits about Dürer in THIS BOOK

Recently, this also led me to look further into the creative stylings in depictions of St. Anthony. He was tempted by demons, and since demons don't have a single face or type, it was an invitation for artists to be as inventive as possible. My favorite:

Martin Schöngauer, Temptation of St. Anthony, 1470s

The style here is amazing, and the creativity even more so.

And St. Anthony was also the namesake of an illness ("St. Anthony's Fire") now known as ergotism. Because of this, he was featured in a brilliant altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald:

Isenheim Altarpiece, 1512-1516

It depicts a Jesus covered in lacerations, skin affected similarly to those with the disease.

In the left-hand corner on the internal wing, St. Anthony is again tortured by demons.

HERE you can see the how the altarpiece opens.

In another altarpiece in Aachen, I found this little guy being very proud of doing his job next to St. Anthony.

And HERE is a funny rant on depictions of St. Anthony. 

More to come later!

Portuguese Man of War, Transparent, in Full Color

See the artwork of Aaron Ansarov showing the beauty of a deadly and complex sea creature.

And his website shows how he does it

Saving Faces

A video showing an American artist making facial prosthetics for soldiers. More information at the Public Domain Review and the National Library of Medicine  

Theaters of drama taking from theaters of anatomy

"The ordinary citizen, in order to be admitted to the anatomy, had to purchase an entrance ticket. This was another international custom. It appears quite likely that the sale of tickets to those wishing to attend public anatomies preceded the same of ordinary theater tickets by sever years and may even have encouraged theatrical confraternities to follow suit. This, incidentally, is only one of a number of aspects suggesting, it seems to me, that studies of the history of the stage should include the anatomical theaters."

-p. 32, William Heckscher's Rembrandt's Anatomy of Dr. Nicholas Tulp, 1958

The full text of the book can also be found HERE

Sensory Upload

See the New Yorker article on TOUCH

German Troops in WWI