Van Gogh's Ear and it's Resurrection

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh is very famous especially for his painting Starry Night. The story of van Gogh's madness is of a dire nature to understanding him, more importantly (to this post) is the story of how he cut off his own ear.
It is said that van Gogh cut off his ear in one of his common fits of possibly bipolar madness, which came and went in storms of depression:
On December 23 1888, van Gogh was savagely angry at his friend Gauguin, regarding a Madame and he stood in front of a mirror. He cut part of his ear, taking off a part, he put it in an envelope and personally delivered to the said Madame who was at the local "house of ill repute." He told her to "Take it, it will be useful."  The prostitute fainted. She called the police the next day who found van Gogh at his home. He was admitted to the hospital, and soon recovered.

His Bandaged Ear and a Hat.

The Resurrection: 

A German museum grew living cells of van Gogh with a 3D printer and DNA from his descendants. It says on the website:

You can talk to the ear. The input sound is processed by a computer using software that converts it to simulate nerve impulses in real time. 

Quote from
May 30-July 4 2014: Diemut Strebe: Sugababe: http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader%248887

Sources:
German artist 'regrows' severed Van Gogh ear: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/06/german-artist-regrows-severed-van-gogh-ear-20146316242869877.html
Van Gogh's own words after cutting his ear recorded in Paris newspaper: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Van-Goghs-own-words-after-cutting-his-ear-recorded-in-Paris-newspaper/30392
A tale of two ears by Ben Cohen from the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539517/?report=classic

Check out

The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh 

by Vincent van Gogh and Arnold Pomerans

Click the link and see the madness of van Gogh.

Portrait Lives: Charles II of Spain

The King Charles II of Spain was born into his ancestral inbreeding. His closely related parents had celebrated his birth and certainly had not expected that Charles was going to be called 'bewitched' by his contemporaries. Maybe he was labeled this because of the physical and mental disabilities he was tortured by. He wasn't able to walk well until he was over nine and fought off countless diseases as he did. He also experienced many seizures throughout his lifetime.
Charles tried but he couldn't change those many developmental issues he had, neither could he his appearance which was supposed to be so 'ugly as to cause fear'. Without any heirs when he died he ended the Spanish Habsburg dynasty.

" The worst thing a man can encounter is something he can't control." ---anonymous

Charles Ready to Take Over the World at aged  about four by anonymous

Charles on a Rocking Horse aged abt.10 by S. Barnuevo

aged 14 by de Miranda

all dressed up with no place to  go aged 16 by de Mirand

aged 24 by de Miranda

aged 24 by de Miranda

Swelling? at aged abt. 37

 On 1 November 1700, just a few years less than forty he died, caused by his health condition decreasing when he was given a religious remedy to cure his impotence.



Every Wednesday Portrait Lives will now be posted!

Sources:

CHARLES II: FROM SPELL TO GENITOURINARY PATHOLOGY by
Ángel García-Escudero López, A. Arruza Echevarría, J. Padilla Nieva and R. Puig Giró
http://scielo.isciii.es/pdf/urol/v62n3/en_02.pdf 

Check out 

The Fall of the House of Habsburg by Edward Crankshaw!

Click on the picture. What if it was the only way to save the world?

Anne Greene: An Alleged Murderess

Anne Greene may have killed her own child (in the eyes of the law) but despite this her own execution could not kill her.

She had just been a housemaid and now she had become a murderer. Her master's grandson had seduced her and she had had his child. But because of him and his grandfather pushing a conviction of her murdering this child (a stillborn), Anne was going to die.

Like all common women in 17th century England who were found guilty of infanticide, she was to die. She was took out to the 'Cattle yard' in Oxford in 1650. She said her last words, complaining of the obscenity of her former employer and she was hung. While she was hanging unconscious maybe her friends pulled and tugged her to try to give her a faster death as a good parting gift. When they thought that she was dead they put her in a coffin and sent her off to Surgeon William Petty for an autopsy.

Dr. Petty then opened the coffin and saw in wonder that she had taken a breath.
He tried to revive her and used some 17th medicine (want to learn more, see source 1 note). Anne recovered after Dr. Petty's treatment. She could remember everything except her execution and revival by the doctor and his assistant.

People claimed that God had saved her and her fame spread wide. She had been pardoned by the county justices.
People around the area went to see Anne when she was recovering and admission was charged.

Sources:
1. Miraculous deliverance of Anne Green by J. Hughes: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov....pdf
note: for more medical information about Anne's revival look under 'the resuscitation' in this source

2. Oxford ODNB, Anne Greene (c.1628-1659): http://www.oxforddnb.com

Check out 

Murder in Shakespeare's England

by Vanessa McMahon
Click on the image. No regrets.

June 3. Cold Harbor. I was killed.

This entry was written by an unidentified Civil War soldier. And yes, indeed, he died from his wounds. His diary was found with his dead body, it was blood spattered.

Another, Joseph Hume, kept a diary. He sadly died and his doctor wrote at first in his (Joseph's) diary: "Joseph received his death wound," then after Hume's death:"Joseph died of consequence of above."

It's true that most Civil war soldiers died because of infections or illness. But it is important not to think that they were infantile in their medical knowledge.  In the 1600s, medicine was evolved enough to set bones (but they still couldn't conquer the Black Plague).

Joseph's Diary, last entries shown

Civil War Complete Surgical Set