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Allegory of Sickness

c. 1540
Giorgio Ghisi (Italian, 1520–1582) After Giulio Romano (Italian, 1492/99–1546)
In this print a sick man is shown being cupped, a medical procedure known to the Greeks as early as the fourth century B.C. and that continued to be used well into the nineteenth century. In order to draw blood from the body, a glass or a cup is applied to the skin after the air within it has been removed by heat or suction. While one of the attendants tries to comfort the patient, another holds a candle to heat the cup before it is applied to his back.

Object Details

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