'The Syphilitic' by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

摘要

The important artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), in 1496 made an engraving for Frisian Dirk van Ulsen's (named Theodoricus Ulsenius, 1460-1508) work entitled 'Vaticinium in epidemicam scabiem' (Nuremberg, 1496). Today the engraving is named 'The Syphilitic'. It shows a man distressed by the signs of an unknown disease at that time which was greater than the ancient scabies; the unknown disease was misdiagnosed as scabies by both physicians at the end of the 15th century and those in the next century. The engraving shows a man who is surmounted by the zodiac; at the centre is the year 1484, annus mirabilis or annus orribilis. Diirer considers the year 1484 as the forewarning to that dreadful and fearful epidemic that would affect Germany 12 years later-namely, gallic disease or French disease; these are the most popular synonyms for syphilis among European States.