Syphilis caused widespread suffering in Early Modern Europe – this portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn of a sufferer from about 1665 illustrates the facial deformities that occurred as the disease progressed. Scientists still debate where the disease originated, but one idea is that strains of the bacteria causing syphilis had developed independently Europe and in the Americas that worsened after contact with the Columbian voyages of the late 15th century. Oh, did you look up syphilis after? Rembrandt makes it look pretty by comparison, no?
