'Removing the Rocks in the Head'
1550
unspecified
From the collection of Rijksmuseum
1550
unspecified
From the collection of Rijksmuseum
'Removing the Rocks in the Head' is a 1550 unspecified by Unknown, a Mannerism work, held at Rijksmuseum.
A man is tied to a chair while another cuts a rock out of his head. People watch at a table, where a cut-out stone sits like a prop. Around the scene, strange faces and bodies float in quick, scribbly lines. This painting shows a silly old idea: that madness was caused by a “stone in the head” that doctors could remove. The messy, cartoonish figures around the edges feel like doodles—maybe the artist was just having fun. To see more odd medical scenes, look up the Rijksmuseum.
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