UNUSUAL AND MEMORABLE
"Allegory of the world": the ankylosed back as a metaphor for coping in daily life
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Caphri Research Institute, University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands and University Hasselt, Belgium
3 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr A Boonen
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University Hospital Maastricht, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands; aboo@sint.azm.nl
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The gothic panel we are looking at (fig 1
) is entitled "Allegory of the World" and was painted in 1515 by an anonymous master. The man portrayed reminds us of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic rheumatological inflammatory disease which can result in variable degrees of spinal kyphosis.
[in a new window] Figure 1 "Allegory of the World". Painting on wood, anonymous, 1515. Museum Waterburcht Anholt, Prince of Salm-Salm, Isselburg. Reproduced with permission.
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The core of the panel is a crystal sphere dominated by a cross and representing the Christian world. In the upper part we see a cloudy landscape with rocky mountains above a peaceful sun-bathed sea. The lower part is grim and shows a gallows-tree with some men hanged and many (apparently) innocent spectators. The man on the left of the panel is young. He looks slightly concerned and is bending forward before entering the world with a long straight staff. When
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