Chapter 9 - The lead-poisoned genius: Saturnism in famous artists across five centuries

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Abstract

Lead poisoning (saturnism) has been present throughout the history of mankind. In addition to possible ingestion from contaminated food, one of the most important ways in which poisoning caused morbid processes was by occupational exposure. This exposition was pandemic in the Roman Empire, and it has been claimed that it contributed to its fall, but it also caused numerous epidemics in Western countries until the nineteenth century. In the case of artists, and since the Renaissance period, this toxicity has been called painter’s colic or painter’s madness. The latter term is partly due to the mental disorders displayed by some of the great masters, including Michelangelo and Caravaggio, although it was long recognized that even house and industrial painters were prone to the disorder. This chapter examines the historical evidence of recognition of such toxicity and discusses the controversies raised by the possibility of professional lead poisoning in great artists. In addition to those mentioned above, many other artists across several centuries will be discussed, some being Rubens, Goya, Fortuny, Van Gogh, Renoir, Dufy, Klee, Frida Kahlo, and Portinari. This chapter also briefly mentions the possibility of lead poisoning in two famous composers: Beethoven and Handel. Whether suffering from lead poisoning or not, about which we cannot always be sure, we should still highlight and admire such geniuses fighting their disorders to bequeath us their immortals works.

Section snippets

Preindustrial historical perspective of extraction and lead poisoning

The use of lead has long been known by mankind. Perhaps, the first records of its use are the lead-rich pigments used in prehistoric cave paintings. Likewise, lead has been mined since ancient times. The oldest known mining site is situated in Turkey and dates back to 8000–6500 BC. There is a lead necklace from the Anatolian city of similar antiquity. Lead was widely used by Egyptians, Jews, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans. Furthermore, its toxicity was known in ancient times. It has

Poisoned painters

I have already mentioned the first ornamental trace of lead use by man found in cave paintings (Ibrahim et al., 2006). Votive objects made from this metal were found in Egyptian and Minoan tombs, and in the ancient city (now in Turkey) of Troy (Waldron, 1973). In relation to painters, the expression “to be as crazy as a painter,” however, seems to have become popular at a later date, perhaps five or so centuries ago. In De Morbis Artificum Diatriba, a book published in 1713 by Bernardinus

Musician connections

For the sake of a more complete “picture,” the point should be made that lead poisoning might also have affected some very famous musicians. Thus, without overdoing it, a few words should be said about Handel and Beethoven, two master composers who some historians have been suspected might have suffered from lead poisoning.

Conclusions

At the current time, and although we have advanced much with respect to understanding lead poisoning, a danger of exposure still exists (Fields, 1997, Kathuria et al., 2012, MacDonald, 2004) with significant manifestations (Bellinger, 2011). In 2005, 10,031 workers in the United Kingdom were exposed to significant amounts of lead and placed under medical scrutiny (Bradberry and Vale, 2007). In Spain, there were 91 adults hospitalizations (with 1 death) due to lead poisoning from diverse sources

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