It's Humor, but not very funny

1. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) , Meloncolia I, 1514, Engraving

2. Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), Water, 1586, Engraving.

3. Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), Fire, 1586, Engraving.

The 16^th century is referred to by Domenico Laurenza as “‘The century of anatomy” [1] Before the 16^th century, the humoral theory dominated the world of medicine. The ancient Greek scholar Hippocrates is credited with developing the four humors. The humors were based on the elements of the universe, air, water, fire, and earth.[2] The four temperaments or “humors” are blood (sanguine), phlegm (phlegmatic), black bile (melancholic), and yellow bile (choleric). Humors were attributes for specific genders and influenced emotions and physique. Women were said to be cold and moist, while men were hot and dry.[3] Distinctions like this were long believed since the time of Hippocrates and were essential in medicinal remedies and suitability of ailments. Humoral theory was based in science but became deeply tied into religion.[4] An imbalance of a humor caused diseases that would be treated by increasing or decreasing the humor afflicted. “Some imbalanced conditions were worse than others, however. Since Adam bore less blame for the original sin, he and his male descendants…kept them hotter than women. Eve’s guilt being greater, the inferior cold-wet phlegmatic humor began to rule her body.”[5]

According to humoral theory, if a woman was upset or depressed for a long time a physician would say she had too much black bile due to her being cold and dry when she is at a cold and wet state naturally.[6] Albrecht Durer’s engraving, Meloncolia I in 1514 is a depiction of the characteristics of melancholic women[fig.1]. Her furrowed brow, disheveled clothes, and the scale beginning to tip, all are depictions of an internal imbalance of black bile that is causing her to be melancholic. Works like Hendrik Goltzius’s Fire and Water depict a masculine male with control over the element of fire and a soft curvy female with water pouring from a jug [fig. 2 and 3]. The choice of which sex depicts which elements in Goltzius’s engravings show how the theory of humors influenced gender.[7] Information about humors was important for understanding anatomy, gender, and medicine before the 15^th century. With Humorism falling out of favor, modern organ pathology became the standard for scholarly men.