According to retired surgeon Renzo Dionigi of the University of Insubria in Varese, Italy (NPR), goiters have been a sign of poverty and geographic location. The purpose of including goiters in paintings may have been to elicit an emotion such as pity or revulsion, or to indicate where someone was from, as some areas did not supply people with the vital nutrients. Or, as Mary Ann Liebert, Department of Medicine University College in Cork Ireland, wrote in The Many Reasons Why Goiter is Seen in Old Paintings, a goiter may have also been used as an erotic device. (What?!?)
Monna Vanna 1866 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882
Goiterville doesn’t have a view of the sea
At least 41% of women and 24% of men had goiters in portraits from the Renaissance to the 20th Century, in Berne Switzerland. Goiters are also seen in Renaissance and Baroque paintings in Florence. They were rarely seen in Venice, near the sea, where there is iodine. Goiters were so geographically based that sometimes goiters were used to indicate the hometown of the figure depicted.
Rogier van der Weyden – Deposition (detail) 1435
Lovely lady lumps
Before the 1900’s, goiters were so common they were seen as normal. When an artist’s model had a goiter, this was included in the artwork. Goiters were most common in young women. Perhaps this is why small goiters were not only seen as normal, but were considered a flattering attribute. A small goiter on an attractive woman was considered an adornment.
Pre Raphaelites
Not so bad, really
I had a goiter for a few years. I had graves disease, a genetic hyperthyroid condition. The goiter wasn’t painful, it was just a swollen part on my throat, and the swelling went away after I had the thyroid cooked by radiation. I’m all the way better now. I didn’t feel it was a particularly attractive feature to carry, but it didn’t seem so bad either. I could see how it could easily be normalized, and how a few lovely ladies with swollen necks could potentially turn this modern view of malformation into something more acceptable.
(a) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1575), by Jan Massys (b) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1550-75), by Vincent Sellaer (c) Judith and Holofernes (1540), by Jan Sanders van Hemessen (d) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1540-50), by Girolamo da Carpi (Girolamo Sellari), (e) Judith (c. 1548-51), by Lambert Sustris (f) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1562), by Lorenzo Sabatini – Image collection from The Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism(a) Judith and her maidservant with the head of Holofernes (c. 1520-30), by Guido Reni (b) Judith and Holofernes (a copy from original of Guido Reni) (1625), by Carlo Maratta (c) Judith and Holofernes (c. 1610-40), by Sigismondo Coccapani (d) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1605-10), by Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d’Arpino (e) Judith and Holofernes (c. 1600-20), by Antiveduto Grammatica (f) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1610-15), by Carlo Saraceni – – Image collection from The Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism(a) Judith and her maidservant (1608-9), by Orazio Gentileschi (b) Judith and her maidservant (1610-12), by Orazio Gentileschi (c) Judith and her maidservant (1613-4), by Artemisia Gentileschi (d) Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1623-5), by Artemisia Gentileschi (e) Judith slaying Holofernes (c. 1614-20), by Artemisia Gentileschi (f) Judith (1678), by Eglon van der Neer – Image collection from The Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism(a) Judith and her maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1710), by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (b) Judith with the head of Holofernes (c. 1730), by Giuseppe Marchesi (c) Judith and Holofernes (c. 1730), by Giulia Lama (d) Judith and her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (unknown), by Venetian school (e) Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1695), by Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole (f) Judith (c. 1840), by August Riedel – Image collection from The Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Doctors are so unobservant
“Even if the function and the role of the thyroid were discovered only after thyroidectomy was started to be performed at the beginning of the 19th century, artists of the Italian Renaissance had the intuition that thyroid swellings were related to specific psychological and humoral conditions.•(…) Artistic intuition and sensibility often precede scientific demonstrations, and it should be a guide for science development.” – Antonio V.SterpettiM.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S.GiorgioDe TomaM.D.AlessandroDe CesareM.D.
Portrait of a Young Woman with Loose Hair by Albrecht Dürer
Diagnose this portrait!
Peter Paul Rubens painted the same lady twice, the portraits separated by three years. According to medical students Leah Zhao and Tetyana Maniuk, the paintings show that lady was suffering from a thyroid condition. Can you spot it?
Peter Paul Rubens, portrait of Susanna Lunden
Peter Paul Rubens, portrait of Susanna Lunden (3 years later)
The Holy Virgin’s Holy Goiter
Mary Ann Liebert also wrote that the thyroid gland increases in size with pregnancy, and may not fully regress after delivery. So it’s likely that an artist’s model would arrive for a sitting with a goiter that was increased by a current or previous pregnancy. This could explain why there are many representations of pregnant women, even the Virgin Mary, with goiters.
Madonna of the carnation Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
Virgin and Child 1505 Cima da Conegliano
Durán Madonna (c. 1435–1438) by Rogier van der Weyden
Portrait of Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) – Emile Deroy
So leave a little love for the lovely lady lumps. They’re really not so bad.
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Blemmyes are mythical creatures without a head, with their facial features on their chest. Blemmyes are said to occur in two types: with eyes on the chest or with the eyes on the shoulders. Epiphagi, a variant name for the headless people of the Brisone, is sometimes used as a term referring strictly to the eyes-on-the-shoulders type. One of the creative …
Sometimes I wonder what it might be like to draw or paint by following a series of set instructions, like a musician follows sheet music. Today is “see and respond” day in our 30 Day Challenge. Actually today it will be “respond and see” day, because our cues come from one of Sol LeWitt’s instructions …
Welcome to the 9th day of our 30 Day Challenge. I’ve pretty much decided that the more serious the news is, the less serious these challenges are going to be. Saturdays are experimental days, so instead of reaching for our paints, we’re going to play with our food. Prepare to get silly in the kitchen. …
My Lovely Lady Lumps
If you listen to NPR, you may have heard yesterday’s story on “Why Certain Poor Shepherds In Nativity Scenes Have Huge, Misshapen Throats.”
According to retired surgeon Renzo Dionigi of the University of Insubria in Varese, Italy (NPR), goiters have been a sign of poverty and geographic location. The purpose of including goiters in paintings may have been to elicit an emotion such as pity or revulsion, or to indicate where someone was from, as some areas did not supply people with the vital nutrients. Or, as Mary Ann Liebert, Department of Medicine University College in Cork Ireland, wrote in The Many Reasons Why Goiter is Seen in Old Paintings, a goiter may have also been used as an erotic device. (What?!?)
Goiterville doesn’t have a view of the sea
At least 41% of women and 24% of men had goiters in portraits from the Renaissance to the 20th Century, in Berne Switzerland. Goiters are also seen in Renaissance and Baroque paintings in Florence. They were rarely seen in Venice, near the sea, where there is iodine. Goiters were so geographically based that sometimes goiters were used to indicate the hometown of the figure depicted.
Lovely lady lumps
Before the 1900’s, goiters were so common they were seen as normal. When an artist’s model had a goiter, this was included in the artwork. Goiters were most common in young women. Perhaps this is why small goiters were not only seen as normal, but were considered a flattering attribute. A small goiter on an attractive woman was considered an adornment.
Not so bad, really
I had a goiter for a few years. I had graves disease, a genetic hyperthyroid condition. The goiter wasn’t painful, it was just a swollen part on my throat, and the swelling went away after I had the thyroid cooked by radiation. I’m all the way better now. I didn’t feel it was a particularly attractive feature to carry, but it didn’t seem so bad either. I could see how it could easily be normalized, and how a few lovely ladies with swollen necks could potentially turn this modern view of malformation into something more acceptable.
Doctors are so unobservant
“Even if the function and the role of the thyroid were discovered only after thyroidectomy was started to be performed at the beginning of the 19th century, artists of the Italian Renaissance had the intuition that thyroid swellings were related to specific psychological and humoral conditions.•(…) Artistic intuition and sensibility often precede scientific demonstrations, and it should be a guide for science development.” – Antonio V.SterpettiM.D., F.A.C.S., F.R.C.S.GiorgioDe TomaM.D.AlessandroDe CesareM.D.
Diagnose this portrait!
Peter Paul Rubens painted the same lady twice, the portraits separated by three years. According to medical students Leah Zhao and Tetyana Maniuk, the paintings show that lady was suffering from a thyroid condition. Can you spot it?
The Holy Virgin’s Holy Goiter
Mary Ann Liebert also wrote that the thyroid gland increases in size with pregnancy, and may not fully regress after delivery. So it’s likely that an artist’s model would arrive for a sitting with a goiter that was increased by a current or previous pregnancy. This could explain why there are many representations of pregnant women, even the Virgin Mary, with goiters.
So leave a little love for the lovely lady lumps. They’re really not so bad.
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