In the garden of the House Museum of Lope de Vega (1562-1635) in Madrid, the book “Marta’s Eyes” was presented, a work by the ophthalmologist Pablo Díaz Couchoud published by the Institute of Spain. From professional curiosity about the disease … that afflicted Marta de Nevares, the last love of Lope de Vega whom he called in prose and verse Amarilis and later Marcia Leonardathe author of the book, an ophthalmologist by profession, begins an investigation into his symptoms and the evolution of his disease in an ophthalmological archeology exercise.
After documenting himself from the letters, Díaz Couchoud comes to know in depth Lope’s daily life with Marta, knowledge that he transfers to a pleasant and well-informed book in which he transcends his initial purpose to bequeath a beautiful portrait of the couple. The work also illustrates the link between science and literature. and its presentation has been carried out in the orbit of the temporary exhibition “La botica de Lope”, where health care in the Golden Age is appreciated from the dialogues of Lope himself and the apothecary and writer Jerónimo de la Fuente Piérola, with whom he had dealings.
Nothing is known about the end of Marta, the 25-year-old, green-eyed, married woman, with whom the Spanish poet and playwright fell in love at the age of 54 while being a chaplain. Those green eyes also caught the attention of ophthalmologist Pablo Díaz Couchoud. Marta lost her sight and died as a result of blindness. It was even suggested that the cause was syphilis, because it can cause blindness, but the letters that the playwright exchanges with the Duke of Sessa, his patron and greatest confessor, provide, according to the author, a series of details that support another diagnosis: pituitary adenoma, a slow-growing tumor that caused his death without his green eyes losing the shine that conquered the playwright.
The ophthalmologist assures that these types of tumors have treatment today, but in the 17th century they did not, because they put potions, poultices, caustics and ointments of all kinds on the young woman, They even prescribed cow or ox dung, the author reveals. Far from separating them, the illness unites the couple even more and Lope cares for her and worries about her, more than any of the previous women with whom he shared his life. In April 1632, Marta de Nevares died, much to the regret of Lope, who did not forget her, neither in his thoughts nor in his verses..
