The apology for bloodletting in the portrait of an eighteenth-century Florentine surgeon

Abstract

This paper analyzes the portrait of the 18th-century Florentine surgeon Vincenzo Bachini, kept at the Galileo Museum in Florence. The painting might date back to around 1760-1780 and depicts the Bachini hanging a lancet case in his right hand, alluding to his bloodletting skills. A technical study of the painting has been performed using the non-invasive imaging techniques, Near Infrared (NIR) photography and Vis-NIR hyperspectral imaging (HSI). The size of the lancet case appears as purposely exaggerated in order to draw the viewer’s attention on the bloodletting instrumentations, as if to extol a medical practice on the wane, but still largely trusted. The portrait has been so far unpublished, and the present study is intended as an investigation on the role of bloodletting practice in the age of Enlightenment.