Anatomy has a long history that started with dissection of animals and then expanded and flourished thanks to dissections performed on human bodies. Artists had a crucial role in uncovering the ...secrets of human anatomy. While most studies have focused on the influence of famous Renaissance artists on human anatomy studies, the anatomical drawings by pre‐Renaissance artists and local craftsmen have remained in their shadow. One of the most popular artistic genres in which complete or parts of human skeletons appear is the Dance of Death (Danse Macabre). This article is an anthropological study of two medieval Dance of Death frescoes that are unusual in being relatively early as well as accurately datable. A comparative morphological analysis of the two late 15th century works present in Istria has been conducted. The two works were painted by two local masters and show how the artists filled the gaps in their knowledge of human anatomy mostly with insights into animal bones and imagination. Their artworks, even though only 16 years apart, demonstrate substantial differences in the representation of the skeletons. The article argues that the history of medicine and of art could make good use of osteology and physical anthropology in attempts to define and understand how anatomical knowledge developed among pre‐Renaissance and post‐Renaissance artists and local people.
In the current article, two paintings related to the topic of reimplantation from Croatian sacral patrimony are presented. The first one is "The Kiss of Judas," the fresco by Vincent of Kastav (1474) ...in Beram in Istria--a Gospel scene with Jesus performing reimplantation of the ear to Malchus after it was cut off by Apostle Peter. The second one is an old oil on canvas from the island of Rab, presenting St. Anthony of Padua performing reimplantation of a boy's amputated foot. Although in both cases the primary function of the painting is to convey a moral message, they are interesting from the medical-historical point of view for their view of universal popular imagination and the conception of healing severe wounds during the absence of modern medical knowledge.
This article takes a look at the guardian role of saints in Christian tradition against particular diseases, focusing on the life of St Francis of Assisi and his 13 follower saints who were ...remembered for their care for the ill and who became patron saints for particular diseases, including Anthony of Padua, Clare of Assisi, Ottone of Pola, Elizabeth of Hungary, Rose of Viterbo, Bernardine of Siena, Didacus, Mark of Montegallo, Joseph of Leonessa, John Joseph of the Cross, Giles Mary of Saint Joseph, Francis Mary of Camporosso, and Leopold Mandić. For each of them the article presents a brief hagiography and explains the relationship with a specific disease and how these saints became patrons.
The introductory segment of this paper briefly describes George Matthew the Dalmatian, the architect who, between 1441 and 1473, oversaw the construction of the Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik, a ...city on the Croatian side of the Adriatic coast. Of the most impressive details included in this monumental construction and sculptural flamboyant gothic production infused with distinctive Dalmatian spirit is a frieze of 71 stone and three lion portraits encircling the outer apse wall. From the intriguing amalgamation of portraits of anonymous people this master came across in his surrounding, the fiftieth head in the row has been selected for this occasion. On the face of a younger man the authors have recognized and described pathognomonic right-sided facial nerve paresis. The question posed here is whether this is coincidental or it represents the master's courage, given that instead of famous people in the cathedral he situated not only ordinary people but also those "labelled" and traditionally marginalized, thus, in the most beautiful manner, foreshadowing the forthcoming spirit of Humanism and Renaissance in Croatian and European art.
The introductory part has summarized the role of malaria in the course of history and various attempts of its eradication in Croatia before the World War I. Furthemore, there is a list of activities ...and results accomplished between 1922 and 1927 on the island of Krk by Dr. Otmar Trausmiller. After a systematic sanitation of all anopheles habitats, primarily natural and artificial bodies of still water, and introduction of imported gambusia to those bodies of water, anopheles was virtually eradicated on the island. What followed was an evident decrease of new malaria incidents, and in the campaign against malaria there was still major concern in the form of chronic patients and intensive quinine therapy. Today, about eighty years after it was introduced to Krk, gambusia still abides in ponds across the island and it represents one of the main factors in the protection against potential revival of indigenous malaria.
This article on the occasion of the 111th birthday of professor Valter Rukavina (Rijeka, 1896-1972) recalls this extraordinary personality who is remembered by local and national history as an ...excellent physician, infectionist, university professor, equally successful scientist and practitioner, scholar and a polyglot, art lover, and last but not least, an extraordinary self-taught painter... He graduated from secondary school in Susak and studied medicine in Innsbruck, Graz, Vienna and Prague, where he received diploma in general practice in 1921. He started his career in Zagreb, then moved to Vrbovsko, KriZevci, Osijek, and Zlatar as district physician. Meanwhile, at the Institute of Epidemiology he specialised in bacteriology, epidemiology, serology, hygiene, and medical chemistry. He successfully organised anti-typhus campaigns and mass vaccinations against scarlet fever and diphtheria, and established local healthcare stations. After a brief stay in Zagreb, in WW2 he was transferred to Bosnia, returned to Zagreb, and since 1946 until his death he had lived in his native Rijeka, where he started an infectious diseases department that later grew into the School of Medicine clinic. Being a practitioner and a scientist, he was interested in all aspects of infectious diseases and contiguous areas, and made a major contribution with his systematic research and successful implementation of preventive measures and complete eradication of the great brucellosis epidemic that broke out in Istria after WW2. In addition to the membership in a number of professional associations, professor Rukavina was also an active member of the Rijeka chapter of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists.
Posebnost kulta sv. Foske v Istri na Hrvazkem Culina, Tatjana; Lesac, Ana; Skrobonja, Ante
Zdravniški vestnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia : 1992),
05/2014, Letnik:
83, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Aim: To determine the dissemination and preservation of the cult of St. Fosca, patron saint against various diseases in Istria (Croatia) using hagiotopographical and hagiochronological methods and to ...discuss specic relations between the cult and its main sanctuary in a small village Batvai near Peroj. Results: St. Fosca is venerated in seven Istrian localities. Five churches that are dedicated to her keep three paintings and two statues of the saint, dating from the 7th to the 18th century, and one relic dating from the 18th century. There was a curious practice that people would bring pieces of clothing covering the sick body part to the sanctuary in Batvai to either prevent a disease, have it healed or oer thanks to the saint for having it healed. Considering the impact of geophysical specicities of the ground, it is believed that considerably increased emission as a consequence of tectonic movements probably exerts a positive inuence on sensitive persons and in this way they indirectly affirm a cult of charismatic person. Conclusion: Demonstrated examples of preservation of homage of the cult of St. Fosca as a universal patron saint against diseases point to a meaning of hagiotherapy and traditional methods of treatment in ethno medicine. The cult of St. Fosca is a vivid example of the importance of patron saints in traditional ethno medicine.
A short overview of several saints, venerated in Christian tradition as protectors from leprosy, is offered as an introduction to a more substantial debate on the possibility and sense of analyzing ...historical sources and the use of their interpretation for modern medical practice. A possible psychoneuroimmunological mechanism has been advanced to relate some of the healings of leprosy reported in historical materials.
To anatomically identify and describe the changes on the tooth of St Apollonia which is kept as a relic in Rab (Croatia). SOURCES AND METHODS: Reviewing relevant literature, macroscopic examination ...of the tooth in the reliquary, photographing and further examining the enlarged photos.
The tooth in question is the first upper right premolar. Observed pathological change is type II enamel lesion, i.e. cervical or gingival caries. Other discovered characteristics are enamel fracture on the distoaproximal surface, shallow fracture on the occlusal third of the crown and two enamel formations, a cluster of smooth and shiny enamel surfaces.
Attention is drawn to a relic that was previously virtually unknown. It is presented how important this relic is for Christian and ethnomedical tradition. Additionally, anatomical determination and the description of pathoanatomical changes are used to affirm the anthropological approach as one of the prerequisites in the attempt to scientifically evaluate the relic phenomenon.
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