The disease is hidden in a masterpiece painting for a century

The most famous picture on the scientific topic "Experimental separation of air from bird cages" accurately depicts skin rash disease named by doctors over a century after the birth of the work.

Drawing on a scientific experiment demonstrating the characteristics of vacuum, artist Joseph Wright's 1786 painting could also be the first visual image of muscular inflammation . This is a rare infection of the muscles, skin and blood vessels. Clinical symptoms of the disease were described in the late 19th century.

The picture displayed at the Tate Britain Museum in London, England, is widely recognized as an artistic milestone reflecting the early Enlightenment period for the modern approach of science to modern society. The work vividly portrays the scientist like a witch pumping gas out of a vase with a cockatoo inside, surrounded by spectators watching intently.

Picture 1 of The disease is hidden in a masterpiece painting for a century
The painting "Experimental separation of air out of a bird cage" by Joseph Wright.(Photo: Wikimedia Commons).

The candlelight scene shows the moment when the experimenter took over the life of the little bird. This man looked straight ahead and showed no emotion at the dying bird.

"In the painting, two young lovers did not pay attention to the experiment because they were staring at each other. At the same time, a father comforted two young children who could not endure the death of the cockatoo bird. This is a science lesson, " Hutan Ashrafian, a surgeon at the Royal College of London, shared his findings in the journal Clinical Rheumatology.

Not only does it contain the metaphor of the scientist's role and everyone's different attitudes to the reality of science, Wright's masterpiece also shows the symptoms of real life disease.

"When we looked at the picture in more detail, it was clear that the father's character had a skin rash, an expression of dermatitis. Hand nodules are the most characteristic sign of inflammatory disease. Ashrafian said.

The father character has a rash in both hands and face. Symptoms of a knuckle-filled red nodule were first described by German dermatologist Heinrich Adolf Gottron in 1931, more than 160 years after Wright's painting was born.

"The tactics of painting in the picture are so clear and accurate that it reflects the actual existence of the hidden disease on the father's character , " Ashrafian commented.