Patiënt lijdend aan de huidziekte 'elephantiasis' before 1881

This anonymous photographic portrait, titled "Patiënt lijdend aan de huidziekte 'elephantiasis'" (Patient suffering from the skin disease "elephantiasis"), taken before 1881, depicts a woman with a disfiguring case of elephantiasis, a parasitic disease that causes extreme swelling of the limbs. The subject stands with her hands clasped in prayer, her body mostly obscured by a dark cloth. This haunting image reveals the medical realities of the late 19th century and the vulnerability of the human body to disease.