Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) was an important English artist of the 18th century and was
the first artist to be given the title Sir. At the age of 66, he experienced diminution of his left 
eyesight. He recorded that "My left eye begins to put itself dark". This could well be the first 
sign of uveal melanoma. In less than 2 months, he lost his vision completely. A year later, he 
experienced a strong pains in the blind eye causing him to sink into deep depression. Few 
months before he died, he had hepatomegaly and an increase in the size of the left eye that 
extruded blood. His surgeon Mr. Cruikshank treated him  with leeches and cupping. At 
autopsy there was only mentioned of his liver that is said to be very diseased and enlarged. 
The medical history suggests that he might have succumbed to metastatic uveal melanoma.