Portrait of a disabled man
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| Portrait of a disabled man |
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| 16th Century |
| Oil on canvas |
| 135 × 110 cm |
| Ambras Castle Innsbruck |
The portrait of a disabled man is an oil painting from the 16th century in the Chamber of Art and Curiosities at Ambras Castle in Innsbruck , a branch of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna .
Image description
The landscape format picture measures 135 × 110 cm. It shows a man lying naked except for a ruff and hat against a dark background; The furniture shows a kind of lounger on which the sitter is lying, as well as a box or cupboard behind his head with openwork doors and side walls or with inlay. The paint is damaged above the patient's back.
The portrayed man turns his face in three-quarter profile towards the viewer; the neck of the person lying down is erect. In contrast to this tense head position, the torso, which shines almost white against the dark background, lies limp and limp on its surface. The left arm is parallel to the body, the muscles seem atrophied and the fingers do not seem to be functional. The thumb falls towards the palm of the hand. The thighs appear to be shortened, the lower legs, which are also thin and not very muscled, are crossed and drawn up, the feet are deformed.
There is a strong contrast between the upright head, clad in a collar, frill and hat, and the naked, lifeless body, which takes up about two thirds of the width of the picture.
Story of the picture
The collection of paintings on Ambras was set up by Archduke Ferdinand II (1529–1595) and was planned from the outset as a museum-style exhibition. It is quite possible that the portrait of the disabled man was already part of the collection.
It is still not known who the picture at Ambras Castle represents. The portrait dates from the 16th century, a time for which numerous contacts between rulers and art collectors on the one hand and naturalists and scientists on the other hand are documented. It is therefore possible that the sitter was portrayed naked and with all the details of his disability out of scientific interest. It is just as likely, however, that it was only viewed as a worthwhile item for a collection of curiosities. What is striking in any case is the portrait-like character of the representation of the head, which contradicts a representation of the handicapped body solely out of curiosity or scientific interest. Identification with the armless art writer Thomas Schweicker was attempted at times, but is highly unlikely due to the disability.
Michel de Montaigne was not allowed to visit the castle or the collection in 1580/81 for reasons that were not entirely clear. How did Montaigne even know that there was a picture collection in the castle is unknown. The unusual picture would probably have been of interest to him, since in the second volume of his essays he described the display of a child with malformations and then comments: “What happens against habit, we call against nature. But there is nothing, nothing at all that does not happen according to nature. With the help of your universal reason, let us shake off the absurd amazement that comes over us every time we are unfamiliar with things! "
The doctor and numismatist Charles Patin judged less modern when in 1690 he saw portraits on Ambras comparable to the portrait of the disabled man. He reported that he could not look at the "terribly disfigured" bodies "without horror".
Later generations apparently judged just like godmother, it was discussed whether the image of the public can be expected at all.
A special feature is that the body of the person portrayed was probably covered from the beginning by a hanging red paper that the viewer could lift and drop again. Paint damage above his back shows the place where the paper was glued. In the area below the ruff and behind the angled legs, a kind of “button” was painted, which suggests that precautions had already been taken when the painting was being made to depict the man's body covered. An entry in the inventory of Ambras Castle from 1666 describes the picture: “Ain conterfet aines Mannß, so ain red käpl on the head, naked with a red paper, so defective covered”.
In view of the fact that the furniture and clothing in the picture fit exactly into the environment in which the picture hangs to this day, it can be assumed that the work was commissioned for Ferdinand II and his collection. In the earliest known catalog of the collection on Ambras, which dates from 1621, the picture is not mentioned; however, this catalog is often summarized and does not name each individual item in the collection separately. The painting also does not contain an inventory from 1882. However, this does not have to mean that the picture was not in the collection at that time, as it was passed over in silence by research for centuries. The portrait, known for many years as "Portrait of a Cripple", now bears inventory number 8344 of the Kunstkammer Schloss Ambras (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna) as a "Portrait of a disabled man".
Research and exhibition
Research has only recently begun to deal with the portrait of a disabled man; The working group around Prof. Dr. Volker Schönwiese or a transdisciplinary and participatory research project.
From December 8, 2006 to June 30, 2007, the picture was the focus of an exhibition at Ambras b. Innsbruck.
Medical diagnosis
The portrayed person may show symptoms of arthrogryposis multiplex congenita , a congenital stiffening of joints.
literature
- Volker Schönwiese, Christian Mürner : The portrait of a disabled man . Cultural-historical study on disability and its topicality . With contributions by Margot Rauch and Andreas Zieger. In: Psychology and Social Criticism 1, 2005; Pp. 95-125
- Christian Mürner, Volker Schönwiese (ed.): The portrait of a disabled man. Visual culture of disability from the 16th to the 21st century . Exhibition catalog and dictionary , Neu-Ulm 2006. ISBN 3-930830-81-7
- Petra Flieger, Volker Schönwiese (ed.): The portrait of a disabled man . Scientific anthology . Neu-Ulm 2007, 305 pages. ISBN 978-3-930830-82-4
- Thomas, Bernd, Volker Schönwiese: The portrait of a disabled man. Look at the history of disabled people. TV film, from Munich 2008.