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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1479-1480

Avicenna at the Sickbed

Walenty z Pilzna · c. 1479-1480

A 15th-century Kraków illumination showing Avicenna attending the sick, reflecting how Latin Europe viewed him as the model physician.

A later European image showing Avicenna as the idealised model physician, reflecting his influence on Latin medicine.

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Medieval painting in a green-bordered frame. A bearded man in a blue robe and red cap stands centre. Around him, sick figures in white and blue robes hold flasks, and attendants in red and green stand at left. Blue arcades with red arches sit behind.
Walenty z Pilzna, Avicenna at the Sickbed, Kraków, c. 1479-1480.

About this source

What it is

This painting, made in Kraków around 1479-1480 by Walenty z Pilzna, depicts Avicenna standing among sick figures holding flasks, attended by other figures nearby. It dates from about 450 years after Avicenna's lifetime.

Why it matters

The image shows how Avicenna was remembered in Latin Europe, not just as an author but as the ideal physician figure, long after his works had shaped European medical education through Latin translations of the Canon. It reveals the gap between the historical Avicenna and the symbolic image later cultures built around him.

Look closer

  • What details in the painting (clothing, objects, setting) show how the artist imagined a physician's world?
  • Why would a Polish artist in the 15th century paint a scene with Avicenna, who lived centuries earlier in a different region?
  • What does this image leave out about Avicenna's actual life and writings?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Avicenna on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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