According to early physicians like Erasistratus, lovesickness was an illness of both body and mind caused by desire and the sight of beauty – its victims were debilitated by an ailment closely resembling melancholia that presented with symptoms such as an erratic pulse, loss of appetite, sickly pallor, and overall dejectedness.¹ Without proper treatment, this disease could be potentially fatal.
In ancient literature, lovesickness predominantly affected men. In Medieval and Renaissance literature and art, however, women were the more common victims of the affliction. Both the course of treatment and the artistic depiction would differ, based on the era.
Lovesickness, and its close cousin melancholia, became popular subjects of seventeenth-century genre paintings. These works were typically set in a bedroom, with a bed in the background representing the illness of body and mind, a “quack” doctor, and various symbols incorporated to show that the illness is love-related – perhaps a cupid or painting of Venus in the background.
Keep an eye out for these tell-tale symbols as you peruse the works of art in this exhibition.
In the painting below, notice the bedroom setting, the cupid over the door, the "quack" doctor, and the piece of paper with the message that translates to “No medicine can help here as this is lovesickness” – all of which indicate that this poor maiden is suffering from lovesickness.
1. Wolfgang Stechow, "'The Love of Antiochus with Faire Stratonica' in Art,"The Art Bulletin 27, no. 4 (1945): 221–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/3047025.