Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo

The upper body and left leg of Joannes Baptista (named after John the Baptist) stuck out of his mobile brother, Lazarus. He did not speak, kept his eyes closed and mouth open all the time, and was a parasitic twin. According to a later account by Copenhagen anatomist Thomas Bartholinus, if someone pushed the breast of Joannes Baptista, he moved his hands, ears, and lips.

To make a living, Lazarus toured around Europe and visited at least Basel, Switzerland and Copenhagen, Denmark before he arrived in Scotland in 1642 and later visited the court of Charles I of England.

He also visited Danzig, the Ottoman Empire, and toured Germany and Italy in 1646.[1]

Contemporary accounts described Lazarus as courteous and handsome, but for his brother who just dangled before him. When Lazarus was not exhibiting himself, he covered his brother with his cloak to avoid unnecessary attention.

Later accounts claim that Lazarus married and sired several children, none with his condition. His engraved portrait depicts him in a costume of a courtier of the period of the House of Stuart.

As reported by Henri Sauval, Lazarus was sentenced to death for killing a man, but averted the execution by pointing out that this would also kill his innocent twin brother.

The brothers' exact date of death is unknown. They are last mentioned c. 1646.

• Gould, George M. & Pyle, and Walter L. (1896) Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. Retrieved July 5, 2007.
• "Lazarus and Johannes Baptista Colloredo." (n.d.). Phreeque.com. Retrieved July 5, 2007.
• Baratta Luca (2018), ‘Due idee del mostruoso, due idee di nazione. I gemelli Colloredo a Londra (1637) in due ballate di Robert Milbourne e Martin Parker’, Rivista di Letterature Moderne e Comparate, 70(2), pp. 109-131 [ISSN 0391-2108].