Poussin, plague, and early modern medicine.

   ... every year we have cured a number of the sick, who regained their 
   health by no other means than the movement of their souls.--Galen, De 
   sanitate tuenda, 1576 
 
   When we endure the smartest sores our crying turns the cure.--William 
   Austin, The Anatomy of the Pestilence, 1666 (1) 

Seeking to launder the spoils of a diamond heist, Fabrizio Valguarnera visited the studio of Nicolas Poussin in early 1631 and purchased two paintings. (2) One of these, begun in late 1630, ...