Jack Hartnell's “Wound Man: Three Early Modern Afterlives of a Medieval Surgical Image”

I chose to attend the event by Dr. Jack Hartnell titled “Wound Man: Three Early Modern Afterlives of a Medieval Surgical Image”. The title of the event immediately caught my attention, as it relates to depictions of medicine and bodies through images. Jack Hartnell is a lecturer in art history at the University of East Anglia. His research focuses on a variety of topics, including medieval objects, the Middle Ages, medicine, and medieval bodies. Dr. Hartnell discussed his book, Medieval Bodies: Life, Death, and Art in the Middle Ages, as well as his upcoming book Wound Man: Three Early Modern Afterlives of a Medieval Surgical Image. The first book looks at ways people during the Middle Ages approached physical health and disease, while the upcoming book focuses on the history of the “Wound Man”. 

Hartnell’s descriptions of the “Wound Man” in particular were fascinating to listen to. Wounds and their possible treatments were things much discussed in Medieval writing by ancient and medieval authorities alike. Images helped inform practitioners and physicians how to treat wounds either caused by warfare or other accidents, almost like a step-by-step guide to treating wounds. Yet, these types of images and depictions also served as a way to aestheticize the process of treating wounds and wounds themselves. Dr. Hartnell explained that his book also covered many fields of medicine, including gynecology, wound therapy, and general medicine. His research on the diverse images depicting the “wound man” not only focused on the labeling of internal organs, but also on the ways descriptions were included or excluded from these images. 

Something I found especially interesting from Dr. Hartnell’s talk was his explanation of the many limitations practitioners encountered when interacting with certain patients. The distinction between curable and incurable diseases made a huge difference in determining if a patient’s diseases were worth the practitioners and energy. This fact made me seriously reflect on the limitations of medicine even today. I thought about many ailments like cancer and other chronic diseases that only have so many treatments and options of care. The struggle to achieve dignified health and life continues, as further proven by the current pandemic we are living through. Professor Hartnell’s ability to intersect themes of ancient knowledge and medicine, heavenly beings and striking works of art highlighted the ways historians of science can interact with the past in many engaging ways! I was left wondering how research on images like the “Wound Man” can help explain or guide medical practice and public health today. How do we portray diseases and wounds? What are new ways art and medicine have been able to interact through the development of new medical technologies? How will art remember or record this current moment? What images from the pandemic will live forever?