The Iconography of Animal-to-Human Blood Transfusions

Forfattere

Nøgleord:

Blood transfusion, xenotransfusion, scientific illustrations, history of medicine, blood symbolism of blood, blood and gender

Resumé

The first blood transfusions to humans were performed in the 17th century. Surprisingly, these transfusions were performed with animal blood. This article addresses illustrations of animal-to-human blood transfusions from the 17th as well as the 19th century and discusses the complex conceptions of blood that they reveal. The author argues that in both periods the illustrations are multilayered and combine physiological conceptions of blood with distinctive symbolic overtones. The 17th-century illustrations have strong religious connotations, whereas the 19th-century depictions reveal a gendered and erotized idea of the female body. In addition, it is argued that a couple of the 17th-century illustrations draw upon apparently contradictory physiological conceptions of blood by making references to both the then new idea of blood circulation and to the humoral theory of Antiquity.

Forfatterbiografi

Pernille Leth-Espensen, Aarhus Universitet

Pernille Leth-Espensen, Ph.D., researcher, Aesthetics & Culture, Aarhus University. Her field of research is the relation between art, science, and technology, which she has addressed from different perspectives and periods. She has written on bio art, art addressing the history of clocks, the doll as animated image, the relationship between art and nature, and the iconography of banknotes. Currently, she is working on the relation between plants and colonialism in Danish paintings from the 19th century. Some related publications: “I grænsezonen mellem liv og død” in Teknokroppen, Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, 2023; “Udforskninger af den åbne krop – Det posthumane i biokunsten” in Turbulens, 2022; “Posthuman Temporalities in Science and Bioart” in The Bloomsbury Handbook to Posthumanism, Bloomsbury, 2020; “Celler til salg. Kunstneriske fortolkninger af vævsøkonomier” in Kultur og Klasse 124: Handel, 2017.

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2024-05-31

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