Famous epileptics in representational art (II)

"Alors il poussait une plainte dont l’accent déchirant vibre encore dans mon oreille, et la convulsion le soulevait." ("Then he let out a cry of complaint, the heart-rending sound of which still vibrates in my ear, and the convulsion flung him upwards.")

This description, by Flaubert’s contemporary and great admirer, Maxime Du Camp, is by no means the only description of an epileptic event experienced by the great French novelist Gustave Flaubert (1821 – 1880). The "nervous disorder" of the author was recognised at the time as being epileptic by a number of doctors, not least by the author’s father, Dr. Achille Cleophas Flaubert, an experienced doctor loved by patients and colleagues alike.

The are numerous contemporary artistic portrayals of Flaubert, one of the best known being by Eugčne Giraud (1806 – 1881); the painter's preference for caricaturized representations that can already be suspected from the first illustration becomes much more evident in the second picture.

One of the most famous French psychiatrists and specialists in epilepsy in the second half of the 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Gélineau, and his colleague and contemporary, the Italian forensic doctor, psychiatrist and anthropologist, Cesare Lombroso, as well as the somewhat younger Swill diplomat and historian, Carl Jacob Burckhardt (one of the most distinguished biographers of Richelieu) are unanimous in their writings: The French statesman and man of the church, Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, generally known as Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) suffered from epilepsy (which he usually attempted [vainly] to treat with a large number of various perfume essences). In what is probably the best known portrayal, which shows the self-assured and scheming cardinal as a powerful personality, namely the colourful painting produced around 1637 by Philippe Champaigne, there is however no indication of a chronic disease nor of physical weakness.

In the hospital in Arles, in southern France, an important diagnosis is contained in the medical records of "van Gogh, Vincent": "intellectual petit mal". This description of the disease comes from the French epilepsy specialist Falret, and in today's terminology of epilepsy means "focal epilepsy with partial complex seizures". In accordance with this diagnosis, van Gogh was treated with the only available anti-epileptic agent at that time, potassium bromide. The great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890) has portrayed himself in numerous paintings. These self-portraits naturally do not permit any conclusion with respect to an existing seizure disorder, but possibly however do indicate painful life experiences experienced by the painter, not least over the background of his illnesses (including, and specifically so, his epilepsy. "La tristesse durera toujours" (The sorrow will last forever") were his last words before his death due to suicide.