NEED TO KNOW about Art History to avoid misinterpreting iconodiagnosis
This section is proposed by Dr Brigitte Hillion, Dermatologist and Master’s degree in Art History.
Medicine, art history : It’s all in the observation!
- What do the 17th-century physician and the 20th-century art critic have in common?
- Between the Dutch genre painter and the provocative American press illustrator?
- Medical semiology or analysis of a painter’s palette and touch?
- Diagnosis or attributing a work to an artist?
- You have to look, mobilize your knowledge, make comparisons and come up with hypotheses… an approach similar to the basis of iconodiagnosis!
Normann Rockwell (1894-1978), considered America’s most popular artist, left a humorous record of twentieth-century American life through his magazine covers. Long scorned by art critics, he is now recognized as one of the post-modern realist painters. The multiple references in this painting are a tribute to the paintings of Rubens for the portrait and Frans Hals for the canvas on the right, but the amused looks of the protagonists complete the ridicule of the critic obsessed by a detail and unaware of the vitality of the models.
Art Critic, Rockwell Norman, 1955, Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge
Gerritt Dou (1613-1675) studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam, then moved to Leiden and developed a flourishing studio. Famous for his genre scenes, he emphasizes the figures through the use of chiaroscuro and adopts a tight framing with an architectural foreground. His fine, light brushstrokes leave an impression of refinement, in contrast to Frans Hals’ vigorous, thick brushstrokes.
The theme of the medical consultation is often found in the genre scenes of 17th-century Dutch painters. The brightly-colored clothes and framing evoke a quackery scene, and suggest a double reading of the subject: an interior scene and a critique of doctors.
Gerrit Dou, The doctor, 1653, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienne