Hairy female daughter age 12'. Copperplate from Gaspar Schott's 'Physica Curiosa' Features Antonietta Gonzales, circa 1595 who suffered from the rare
Hairy female daughter age 12'. Copperplate from Gaspar Schott's 'Physica Curiosa' Features Antonietta Gonzales, circa 1595 who suffered from the rare genetic disorder of hypertrichosis (so called 'werewolf syndrome'). Her father Pedro Gonzalez was the first to suffer the disease (see other Schott), and was brought from the Canary islands as an object of curiosity. As the fine clothes suggest she was not marginalised as a freak but, with her family that shared the condition, was a guest at the courts of Europe. (King of France, Duke of Parma, Isabella Pallavicina). Gaspar Schott was a Jesuit scholar (1608-1666). He worked with Athanasius Kircher in Rome before returning to Germany in 1655 where he was appointed professor of Mathematics at Augsburg. This work may have been inspired by unfinished elements of Kircher's work and draws together a remarkable array of the real and the imagined.
Size: 3625px × 4821px
Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 17th, abnormality, antoinetta, artwork, bearded, century, curiosity, disorder, face, family, freak, genetic, gonzales, gonzalez, hairy, human, hypertrichosis, illustration, inherited, kircher, lady, mutant, mutation, pedro, people, person, schott, schotti, show, syndrome, werewolf
