Museum Boerhaave – Portrait of Andreas Grünheide, the Prussian sword-swallower

"In 1635 at the University of Köningsberg, a knife was removes from Andreas Grünheide. He had swallowed the knife a month earlier in a drinking bout. Such an operation was a very risky business in those days but this one went remarkably well. As a memento the professor in charge had this painting made for his Leiden colleague Otto Heurnius. The ‘Portrait of a Prussian Peasant, who Swallowed a knife 10 inches Long’’immediately gained a place among the other raities in the Leiden Anatomy Theather."

From their website:

National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine

As the national treasury of scientific endeavours, the museum shows some 400 years of advances in knowledge. Developments in the various sciences can be viewed in 24 rooms on two levels. The emphasis is on contributions from the Netherlands.