Janet Leith’s exhibition Melancholia draws inspiration from Laurinda S. Dixon’s Privileged Piety: Melancholia and the Herbal Tradition published in the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. Leith examines the pre-nineteenth century system of belief relating to humoral theory, specifically the ‘Four Humors’ of phlegm, black bile, yellow bile and blood, which instigated the effects of both heightened inspiration (heat) and depressed spirits (cold) on the human body and mind. 

Image:

Janet LEITH

Black Bile 2023

charcoal, gesso, ink and coloured pencil on paper

70 x 55 cm