After a manuscript illumination, Germany, 14th Century

Limited edition linoleum block print. Black ink only.

Image Size: 6-1/4" x 6-1/4"
Matted Size: 12" x 11-1/4"

Did Albrect Durer contribute to this atlas here showing Sparta - Lacedomonia?

Limited edition serigraph from a hand-cut stencil after a woodcut by Michael Wolgemut in Weltchronik, Nuremberg, 1493. Black ink only. Also available hand colored.

After traditional designs from English Heraldic Crests
Badger (yellow) Hufflepuff
Snake (green) Slytherin
Lion (red) Gryffindor
Eagle (blue) Ravenclaw

Open edition digital image

After a woodcut by Albrecht Durer , Germany, 1513
A Knight in his armor appears to be invulnerable to the rotting corpse of Death riding beside him and the horned Devil behind. He seems to be riding through "the valley of the shadow of death" toward the light of salvation.

Open edition offset reproduction. Black Tone ink only.

Image size: 17 x 13
Matted size: 23 x 18

After woodcuts in Hortus Sanitatis, Strasbourg, 1497 by Johann Pruss

Goe, and catche a falling starre,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me, where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Divel's foot. (John Donne)

Print $48, Matted $68, Framed $119
Hand Colored: Print $70, Matted $90, Framed $141

Limited edition linoleum block print. Produced as a set with two images and matted in two windows. Black ink only.

(from diagnosis to cure) After woodcuts in Teutsch Kalendar, Ulm 1498

Open edition digital images

A traditional theory of physiology in which the state of health--and by extension the state of mind, or character--depended upon a balance among the four elemental fluids: blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile. These were closely allied with the four elements (air, fire, water, and earth). The Humours gave off vapors which ascended to the brain; an individual's personal characteristics (physical, mental, moral) were explained by his or her temperament. The perfect temperament resulted when no one humour dominated.

Phlegmatic: Phlegm, Water, Cold & Moist, Dull (also Pale & Cowardly)
Sanguine: Blood, Air, Hot & Moist, Amorous (also Happy & Generous)
Choleric: Yellow Bile, Fire, Hot & Dry, Violent (also Vengeful)
Melancholy: Black Bile, Earth, Cold & Dry, Gluttonous (also Lazy & Sentimental)

Open edition digital images

Yellow Bile, Fire, Hot & Dry, Violent (also Vengeful)

Open edition digital images

Black Bile, Earth, Cold & Dry, Gluttonous (also Lazy & Sentimental)

Open edition digital images

Phlegm, Water, Cold & Moist, Dull (also Pale & Cowardly)

Open edition digital images

Blood, Air, Hot & Moist, Amorous (also Happy & Generous)

Open edition digital images

The Medieval Physician usually diagnosed from a sample of urine, which he sniffed and tasted for sugar. In case of a gross infection he examined the urine for sediment. He inquired about the patient’s diet and stool, and then delivered a discourse on the disease. The Physician was sometimes referred to as the "Piss-Prophet".

Open edition digital images

The popularity of bloodletting in the Renaissance followed the ideas of Galen. There were two key concepts. The first was that blood was created and then used up, it did not circulate and so it could 'stagnate' in the extremities. The second was that humoural balance was the basis of illness or health. Galen believed that blood was the dominant humour and the one in most need of control. In order to balance the humours, a physician would either remove 'excess' blood (plethora) from the patient or give them an emetic (to induce vomiting) or diuretic (to induce urination). Even after the humoral system fell into disuse, the practice was continued by surgeons and barber-surgeons. Though the bloodletting was often recommended by physicians, it was carried out by barbers. This division of labour led to the distinction between physicians and surgeons. The barbershop's red-and-whitestriped pole, still in use today, is derived from this practice: the red represents the blood being drawn, the white represents the tourniquet used, and the pole itself represents the stick squeezed in the patient's hand to dilate the veins. Bloodletting was used to 'treat' a wide range of diseases, becoming a standard treatment for almost every ailment, and was practiced prophylactically as well as therapeutically.

Open edition digital images