Used medicinally for the treatment of migraines, head pain, and anxiety, betony is associated with the treatment of the invented disease of “Hysteria”, championed by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. The work references poses from his famous photographs of Augustine, his well-known and favourite model, with whom he demonstrated the symptoms of his so-called new women’s disease “Hysteria” for the other doctors at Salpêtrière University Hospital (1876–80) in France.

Those who were bewitched were also said to be treated in a water bath of betony. The plant had outstanding stature in early Italian folklore, hence the idiom used in the title for this work – “Trade your coat for betony. The plant was also revered by the Greeks and Spanish, and was a common feature in physic or medicinal gardens. It grows in churchyards and is said to ward off evil spirits.