A surgeon extracting the stone of folly. Oil painting by Pieter Huys, ca. 1561.

  • Huys, Pieter, 1519-1581.
Date:
[1561?]
Reference:
45046i
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About this work

Description

Pictures of a surgeon making an incision in a patient's head in order to extract a stone were first collected by Henry Meige, who called the subject "pierre de tête". The pictures do not record an actual operation, but are allegorical scenes referring to the subduction of 'folly' (madness) from the body as if it were something that could be cured by surgery

Publication/Creation

[1561?]

Physical description

1 painting : oil on wood ; wood 106 x 133.5 cm

Contributors

References note

Handbook of the Historical Medical Museum organised by Henry S. Wellcome, London 1913, p. 86, no. 271
W. Schupbach, 'A new look at the cure of folly', Medical history, 1978, 22: 267-281
Charles G. Gross, '"Psychosurgery" in Renaissance art', TINS Trends in neurosciences, 1999, 22: 429-431

Reference

Wellcome Collection 45046i

Type/Technique

Subjects

Where to find it

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