Self Portrait With Dr. Arrieta and the Medical Profession's Tenuous Status in the Public Eye

Works by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) bridge the gulf in many ways, from the 18th-century European masters to the early seeds of modernism. In the wake of the revolution to the north and the Napoleonic Wars during his lifetime, tumultuous political and social upheavals in Spain impacted the artist, directly. Goya’s artistic opus transitioned from that of the celebrated chief court painter for King Charles IV (later shunned by his successor, Ferdinand VII) to his elderly personal works, focused on common life scenes, popular events, and depictions of “capricious subjects” (witches, ghosts, and monsters). Evidence suggests that his failing health mayhave played acentral role; the fulcrum for this transition occurred in proximity to Goya’s first known health crisis. As frequently occurs for true innovators, Goya’s great genius was not fully appreciated until long after his death, which occurred in isolation and ignominy. At age 46, the painter experienced a severe febrile illness while traveling in Cadiz that led to significant disability and the first of a number of periods of medical convalescence. Although the diagnosis of Goya’s illness remains unproven [1], exposure to syphilis seems likely, and many of his symptoms parallel the ravaging sequential stages caused by this spirochete [2]. He ultimately developed what would now be called congestive heart failure as well as permanent deafness. In Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta (1820), the cynical Goya offers a sentimental portrayal of his personal physician, Dr. Eugenio Garcia Arrieta [3, 4]. The subject on the right is Goya—the last known of his roughly 40 self-portraits—who appears vulnerable, gloomy, ghost-like, and faintly clinging to a cloth representing life. Arrieta, on the left, appears selfless, attentive, and fully supportive; his positioning