01/12/04’s illustrious band:

Stendhal's Syndrome

Brought to you by French novelist Stendhal, a.k.a. Marie-Henri Beyle.

Stendhal visited Florence in 1817 and soon found himself overwhelmed by the city's intensely rich legacy of art and history. When he visited Santa Croce (the cathedral where the likes of Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Galileo are buried) and saw Giotto's famous ceiling frescoes for the first time, he was overcome with emotion.

In 1970, Dr. Graziella Magherini, at the time the chief of psychiatry at Florence's Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, gave the name Stendhal’s Syndrome to the phenomenon of experiencing anything from panic attacks to bouts of outright madness in the presence of art. Others speculate that in addition to the emotional impact of the artwork, a patron suffering from “museum fatigue” may also be pushing his or her physical limits, walking great distances or for long periods without rest, food or water.

Or you could just call it an art attack. But really! If I ever see art that makes me faint or drives me mad . . . well, I just hope somebody has a camcorder at the ready -- trained on the art, not on me, so I can sort it out later.

Today around the world: January 12 is National Pharmacist Day in the USA, which I note in honor of my late Dad, who practiced that most respected profession for more than 35 years. We’ve been missing him sorely for the past three. He’s probably advising St. Peter on his blood pressure meds right now.

E-mail the Media Sensation: BandNameoftheDay@hotmail.com

Visit the BND archives at http://jugglernaut.blogspot.com.