IMAGINING GALEN

Illustrations through Time


Listen to this page.

There are no known portraits of Galen created from life, and if a visual representation of the physician was ever made in antiquity, it has not survived. Nor can we find verbal descriptions of Galen’s appearance. Yet, given his intellectual impact and influence, it is not surprising that artists have attempted to visually represent Galen’s authority. His imagined image surfaces in medical contexts, especially in illuminated manuscripts as well as in later, printed editions of his writings, but portraits of Galen also appear in religious settings, including in murals in churches and monasteries. In all extant illustrations Galen is bearded, but this alone is not sufficient to distinguish him from other figures, as a beard was a common feature in representations of the generic Greek philosopher. Scholars have observed that no consistent image of Galen has been transmitted—there are no distinctive visual traits to his depiction in Greek, Arabic, or Romance-language works—so, in most contexts, he can only be identified by a label within a painting or by another textual note.

Although a Galen “portrait” is not consistently recognizable from his appearance alone, certain iconographic patterns do recur in his representation. In most illuminated manuscripts, the physician is presented in one of four settings: with a group of sages or other physicians, in the act of writing, engaged in teaching, or providing patient care.

An illustration of a seated figure dressed in blue robes, writing at a lectern. Behind the lectern are shelves of books.

Galen writing. Pigment on parchment. From Galeni opera varia (15th century), fol. 355r. Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden: Mscr.Dresd.Db.93. Photo: SLUB. Public Domain.

One of the earliest known illustrations of Galen was created in the sixth century and appears in the so-called Vienna Dioscorides (ca. 512 CE), an illustrated Byzantine edition of De materia medica (a compilation of medicinal plants originally written by Pedanius Dioscorides [ca. 40 CE–ca. 90 CE]). The illustrator, whose identity is unknown, represented Galen in the center of a group of seven physicians with Dioscorides to his left. While Galen’s face is now somewhat obscured—the delicacy of the materials and the passage of time have led to some image loss—his place in a group of sages clearly positions him as a leader.

A page with a colored illustration of seven figures in white robes, sitting in a circle. Enclosing the scene is an elaborate rectangular border in red, blue, yellow, and black. The page’s top left corner is missing.

Seven physicians with Galen enthroned at the center. Pigment on parchment. From De materia medica (Vienna Dioscorides; Byzantine, ca. 512 CE), fol. 3v. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: Cod. Med. gr. 1. Photo: © ÖNB Vienna.

A page with a large rectangle of text in the center, bordered by eight rectangular illustrations.

Detail from the title page of Galeni Opera Omnia (Venice, 1550). Photo: Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Although illustrations of Galen may not accurately visualize the man as he appeared—we have no record of how he actually looked—artistic representations nonetheless depict his intellectual legacy in revealing ways. After the advent of the printing press, editions of Galen’s writings often included an illustrated title page rather than illuminations scattered throughout the text. In the sixteenth-century Venetian edition of Galen’s works shown above, translated from the original Greek into Latin, Galen is shown in different scenes, which meticulously follow anecdotes from his writings. The images represent important moments in his biography—from a father’s dream about his son’s professional destiny to a bedside drama treating the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Please click below to read brief excerpts in Galen’s own words.

Learn About the Images