Israel Medical Association Journal

Thyroid gland enlargement, commonly known as goiter, appears frequently in classical and Renaissance paintings, capturing the attention of scholars across art history, endocrinology, and medical history. This condition was prevalent throughout history and became a recurring artistic motif from the Hellenistic period onward. Artists often depicted models, particularly women, with visibly enlarged thyroids during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, reflecting the high prevalence of goiter in the general population. In addition, during this period, a fuller neck was considered a sign of high social status, which significantly influenced the portrayal of women in art. As artistic styles evolved toward more faithful and less idealized representations, especially in portraits of identifiable individuals, the depiction of both diffuse and nodular goiter became increasingly pronounced. Notably, the thyroid's function was not yet understood at that time, and goiter or neck swelling had not been recognized as originating from the thyroid gland [1].

Giacomo Ceruti was a renowned painter in northern Italy during the middle third of the 18th century, although he is not well-known today. He produced pictures in several different genres but his reputation after his death was based primarily on his portrayal of beggars and poor working people; hence, his posthumous nickname, il Pitocchetto, the little beggar. Of medico-artistic interest is the realism with which he depicted the hands of his impoverished subjects, a quality that enables them to be examined for signs of pathology or trauma.

The present article displays some representative examples of hand deformities in Ceruti’s paintings, thus extending into the 18th century the authors' previous research on medical aspects of art works from the 15th to the 17th century.