text: **Health and death**
  
  Despite the image of a healthy and virile king that Louis sought to project, evidence exists 
  to suggest that his health was not very good. He had many ailments: for example, 
  symptoms of diabetes, as confirmed in reports of suppurating periostitis in 1678, dental 
  abscesses in 1696, along with recurring boils, fainting spells, gout, dizziness, hot flushes, 
  and headaches. 
  
  From 1647 to 1711, the three chief physicians to the king (Antoine Vallot, Antoine 
  d'Aquin, and Guy-Crescent Fagon) recorded all of his health problems in the*Journal de*
  *Santé du Roi*(*Journal of the King's Health*), a daily report of his health. On 18 November 
  1686, Louis underwent a painful operation for an anal fistula that was performed by the 
  surgeon Charles Felix de Tassy, who prepared a specially shaped curved scalpel for the 
  occasion. The wound took more than two months to heal.[124] 
  
  Louis XIV (seated) with his son*le*
  *Grand Dauphin*(to the left), his 
  grandson Louis, Duke of Burgundy 
  (to the right), his great-grandson 
  Louis Duke of Anjou, and Madame 
  de Ventadour, Anjou's governess, 
  who commissioned this painting; 
  busts of Henry IV and Louis XIII are 
  in the background. 