Konstgalleri
Epilepsy in the Bible (I)
"Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water."
With these words, which can be read in Chapter 17 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible (the evangelists Mark and Luke portray this scene in similar words), a desperate father asks Jesus Christ to help his epileptic ("moonstruck") son. Many artists in various cultural-historic periods have been struck by this dramatic situation and have been inspired to produce an artistic presentation and interpretation. Thus, for example, the Limburg brothers (in their illustration of a book of hours for the Duc de Berry) at the start of the 15th century, Raffaelo Santi (Raphael) at the start of the 16th century, Peter Paul Rubens and Déodat Delmont in the 17th century, and, finally also in the 20th century, Emil Wachter, one of the most important Christian artists of current times.
The miniature (Folio 166 recto) from the book of hours, "Les Très Riches Heures" of Johann von Frankreich (Duc de Berry, 1340 – 1416) presents Christ driving out, with a gesture of blessing, an evil spirit that has attacked a young man. The fact that this exorcism was actually successful is represented by the demon with dragon wings, tail and claws that is seen escaping upwards from out of the patient’s mount. Whether this picture actually portrays the healing of the moonstruck boy (see above) is not clearly defined. The fact that the sick person is being held by an accompanying person (the desperate father?), that the casting out of the demon is taking place just at the time of an acute episode of the disease (in the Gospel of Luke, the description of the same event in Chapter 9 says that, "Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion."), that the affected boy at the moment of the "attack" cannot stand by himself, but needs support, and finally also the tonically outstretched arms and the versive positioning of the eyeballs could by all means be referring to an epileptic event.
With these words, which can be read in Chapter 17 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible (the evangelists Mark and Luke portray this scene in similar words), a desperate father asks Jesus Christ to help his epileptic ("moonstruck") son. Many artists in various cultural-historic periods have been struck by this dramatic situation and have been inspired to produce an artistic presentation and interpretation. Thus, for example, the Limburg brothers (in their illustration of a book of hours for the Duc de Berry) at the start of the 15th century, Raffaelo Santi (Raphael) at the start of the 16th century, Peter Paul Rubens and Déodat Delmont in the 17th century, and, finally also in the 20th century, Emil Wachter, one of the most important Christian artists of current times.
The miniature (Folio 166 recto) from the book of hours, "Les Très Riches Heures" of Johann von Frankreich (Duc de Berry, 1340 – 1416) presents Christ driving out, with a gesture of blessing, an evil spirit that has attacked a young man. The fact that this exorcism was actually successful is represented by the demon with dragon wings, tail and claws that is seen escaping upwards from out of the patient’s mount. Whether this picture actually portrays the healing of the moonstruck boy (see above) is not clearly defined. The fact that the sick person is being held by an accompanying person (the desperate father?), that the casting out of the demon is taking place just at the time of an acute episode of the disease (in the Gospel of Luke, the description of the same event in Chapter 9 says that, "Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion."), that the affected boy at the moment of the "attack" cannot stand by himself, but needs support, and finally also the tonically outstretched arms and the versive positioning of the eyeballs could by all means be referring to an epileptic event.
The fact that the young man suffers from a chronic illness (or a disability) can also be seen from his clothes: He is wearing an inconspicuous grey garment, which is torn at the sleeves and round the right leg and in addition has holes in it. Thus did artists of the period make clear to the viewer that such a portrayal implies "a poor wretch", and indeed doubly poor, firstly as a man who is badly off from a financial and career point of view (he cannot get any paid work) on account of his infirmity, and secondly as someone who lives on the margins of society (namely rejected by his personal surroundings). This situation of social exclusion of the ill person is further highlighted here by the sumptuous colours and the grand clothing and postures of the others portrayed here and by the stately ambiance.
The totality of the symptoms and the manner of presentation make it highly probable that the objective of this miniature masterpiece of the Limburg brothers was to provide a pictorial representation of a theological interpretation and an artistic sublimation of the text quoted at the beginning.
