Patiënten lijdend aan de huidziekte 'eczema ichorosum' en 'eczema pustulosum' before 1881

These photographs of patients suffering from skin conditions, eczema ichorosum and eczema pustulosum, are presented in a medical book whose anonymous author sought to meticulously document and categorize the manifestations of disease. The composition focuses on the patients’ faces and upper bodies, utilizing a close, almost clinical framing that minimizes background distractions. The monochrome palette heightens the stark contrast between the affected and unaffected areas of skin. This dramatic visual division invites a semiotic reading: the healthy skin signifies normalcy and ideal health, while the eczematous regions are signs of otherness, disease and deviation. This opposition not only presents a clinical study of dermatological conditions, but it also reflects a broader cultural anxiety about the body as a site of potential disorder. The formal arrangement of these images within a taxonomic structure emphasizes the medical gaze, reducing individuals to specimens within a larger system of classification.