Pain and suffering in rat

PAIN AND SUFFERING IN ART. P Procacci, Cattedra di Terapia Medica Sistematica,Universita di Firenze, Viale Morgagni 85, I-50134 Firenze, Italy When we consider the expressions of pain and suffering in figurative art, first of all we must observe that in many cases it is difficult to distinguish the physical pain from the psychic pain, as the two conditions are often joint in the art. In the history of art, there are periods in which the different expressions are well represented: happiness, pain, fear and so on. In other periods, man is represented without any passion in a more or less abstract manner. This is the case of Eastern art, above all the Chinese one. If we consider the Egyptian art and the classic Greek art of the 5th and 4th century, we do not find expressions of pain also when pain is surely present, as in a wound in a battle. Instead, when we arrive to Hellenistic art, the "passions of the souls" are often present. Typical examples are the statues of Laocoon and of the Galatian warrior dying. In Roman art both the patterns are present: one derived from classic Greek pictures, the other derived from Etruscan and Hellenistic art. When we arrive to Byzantine art, the absolute schematization of man and absence of any expression of pain and suffering is the rule. This conception lasts for nearly one thousand years. The . . . first Crucifixions, painted in different parts of Europe, represent the Christus triumphans (Christ in triumph), without any suffering. The turning point is at the end of the 13th century with Cimabue and other great artists: Christ is represented as suffering (patiens). This trend is fully developed with Giotto: pain of the Passion and of other events as the death of Saint Francis are important expressions of suffering. Giotto's followers in Italy and the Gothic School in Europe represent suffering and pain: the most classical examples are the representations of the damned in the Universal Judgements. The Renaissance period begins with one of the most tragic expressions of suffering: Masaccio's fresco of Adam and Eve expelled from the Eden. The representationsof Saint Sebastian's Martyrdom are another subject showing pain and suffering. A classic example of pain is represented by Michelangelo in the Cappella Sistina in the damned of the Universal Judgement. At the end of the Renaissance we can find many examples of pain, as in CaraVaggio's painting of a boy bitten by a green lizard. With the baroque art a full expression of pain and suffering can be observed in every part of Europe. In the 18th century we return to a period of classic representationwithout pain. In the 19th century many trends in art are overlapping; we have representationsof pain in every moment of the daily life. When we turn to this century and new schemes of art are prevailing, as cubism, expressionism and so on, pain and suffering are still present, as in the famous picture "Guernica" of Pablo Picasso.