Breast cancer in Rubens paintings

Abstract

Rubens was one of main baroque painters who practices realism, which means that he painted whatever his eyes capture. That fact has helped us with the visual aspect and the circumstances where such paintings were painted. This has allowed us to discover alterations in the breast of the models he painted, which suggest breast cancer. Such painting are 'The three Graces', 'Diana and her nymphs pursued by satyrs', 'Orpheus and Euridice'. In 'The three Graces' we can see that the model on the right has an open ulcer with reddening of the skin, nipple retraction, reduction of breast volume as well as axilar lymph nodes. This is a visual aspect of a locally advanced breast cancer. In Diana and her nymphs pursued by satyrs and in Orpheus and Euridice we can see a breast retraction in the same place as in 'The three Graces', which suggest breast cancer indirectly. The analysis of the tumor mass in the models of these pictures allow us to know more on the works, the social environment and the diseases happened in the years this painter lived.

Did Rubens' Delilah have Mondor's disease?

“…She was 23 when the painting was performed; the finger signs in rheumatoid arthritis take years to develop and would have started in her teens. Other authors have detected evidence of breast cancer in the left lateral breast of the model on the right of the painting …”

Old masters as clinical photographers: multifocal breast cancer diagnosed 400 years ago

“…She was Hendrickje Stoffels, Rembransdt's mistress. We also reported another case in The Three Grace (Prado Museum, Madrid) painted by Rubens, where the model on the right side has an ulcerate breast cancer in her left breast [2,3].…”

Introductory Chapter: Having a Brain is Not Necessary to Get Cancer… but Indispensable to Fight It

“…1636 and "Orpheus and Euridice", ca. 1636-1637, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain, also indicate breast cancers [25]. In the "The three Graces" painting the tumor, between the left breast and the left axial, is exophytic, irregular, with inflammatory, while in two remaining show abnormalities suggesting the early stages of the breast cancer.…”