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50 | EYEWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2020 Contact deLuise: vdeluisemd@gmail.com by Vincent deLuise, MD O EYE ON ART UTSIDE THE OR A n iconic example of eye disease in art is Pieter Bruegel the Elder's mon- umental painting "The Blind Lead- ing the Blind" (Dutch: "De Parabel der Blinden"). This 1568 masterpiece is a jewel in the magnificent Museo di Capodi- monte in Naples, Italy. Bruegel (ca. 1525–1569), who lived and worked in Brabant in Habsburg, the Netherlands, was a master of the North- ern Renaissance and a formative influence on Dutch Golden Age painting. The painting "The Blind Leading the Blind" is a brilliant example of Bruegel's genius ability to paint a narrative, both lyrically and metaphorically, with exquisite precision and detail. This piece has been analyzed for the oph- thalmic findings of the various protagonists. Among those who have published on possi- ble ocular conditions is Zeynel Karcioglu, MD, who opines an ophthalmic diagnosis for five of the six men in the painting. 1 The first man (from the right) does not have eyes visible to comment. The second man has had bilateral exenterations. The third demonstrates corneal leukomas, and the fourth may display bulbar atrophy. The fifth is visually impaired and seemingly photophobic. Finally, the sixth may have pemphigus or bullous pem- phigoid. The physician-poet William Carlos Williams wrote a poem about this painting, bringing us full circle with the intersection of medicine and the arts. The poem reads, in part: 2 This horrible but superb painting the parable of the blind without a red in the composition shows a group of beggars leading each other diagonally downward across the canvas from one side to stumble finally into a bog Eye disease in art Bruegel's elegiac masterpiece of realism In this column, "Eye on Art," Vincent deLuise, MD, explores the intersection of medicine and art. References 1. Karcioglu ZA. Ocular pathology in The Parable of the Blind Lead- ing the Blind and other paintings by Pieter Bruegel. Surv Ophthal- mol. 2002;47:55–62. 2. Williams WC. The Parable of the Blind. Emory University. english. emory.edu/classes/paintings&- poems/blind.html. Accessed July 13, 2020. Bruegel the Elder, Pieter. "The Blind Leading the Blind." 1568. Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. Accessed Jan. 28, 2020 via public domain/Wikimedia Commons.