BACKGROUND: Whether schizophrenia existed before the 19th century is an important issue within the history of psychiatry. Written records or other documents that could identify this psychopathology are extremely rare and must therefore be subjected to meticulous historical and psychopathologic analysis. METHODS: A previously unknown heraldic sheet, with accompanying text, was subjected to historical, heraldic, and psychopathologic analysis. The contemporary inscription "by the mad paynter Bayer" was found on the back of the painting. The phenomenologic analysis emphasized the phenomenology of Jaspers for the formal criteria of a psychosis. RESULTS: Many of the characteristics as seen typical psychopathologic of presumably schizophrenic psychoses by some authors can be found in the formal features of the work. Moreover, a precise historic and heraldic investigation (blazon) allowed us to assign this previously anonymous work to an artist of the period around 1720 to 1740, Abraham Beurer, and to find his contemporary portrait. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the earliest works that can be unambiguously assigned to the psychopathology of expression (art brut). The formal features of schizophrenia appear to be remarkably typical, timeless, and stable, although the objective features are strictly historical. The work provides further evidence that there were individual cases of schizophrenia even before the 18th century. The external designation as "mad" provides important additional support for this view.
BACKGROUND: Whether schizophrenia existed before the 19th century is an important issue within the history of psychiatry. Written records or other documents that could identify this psychopathology are extremely rare and must therefore be subjected to meticulous historical and psychopathologic analysis. METHODS: A previously unknown heraldic sheet, with accompanying text, was subjected to historical, heraldic, and psychopathologic analysis. The contemporary inscription "by the mad paynter Bayer" was found on the back of the painting. The phenomenologic analysis emphasized the phenomenology of Jaspers for the formal criteria of a psychosis. RESULTS: Many of the characteristics as seen typical psychopathologic of presumably schizophrenic psychoses by some authors can be found in the formal features of the work. Moreover, a precise historic and heraldic investigation (blazon) allowed us to assign this previously anonymous work to an artist of the period around 1720 to 1740, Abraham Beurer, and to find his contemporary portrait. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the earliest works that can be unambiguously assigned to the psychopathology of expression (art brut). The formal features of schizophrenia appear to be remarkably typical, timeless, and stable, although the objective features are strictly historical. The work provides further evidence that there were individual cases of schizophrenia even before the 18th century. The external designation as "mad" provides important additional support for this view.