Goiters in the Renaissance era: Multiple cases of thyroid autoimmunity and iodine deficiency

Abstract

The Renaissance is recognised as an inflection point in history that led to the dissemination of innovation, science, philosophy, and the arts to spearhead a leap for global civilisation. Many of the greatest outputs from the Renaissance were presented in artwork which was able to champion elements of naturalism and realism, and therefore moved away from preconceived ideas. This included the portrayal of anatomy and pathology with an exactitude previously unseen in art. I note novel identification of goiters in multiple paintings of the foremost Renaissance genius artists and their originating artistic schools, those of Verrocchio, Lippi and Ferrara. These can be categorised through the proposed (i) 'da Vinci Sign' after Leonardo da Vinci, where the goitre is artistically presented as a loss or shallowing of the suprasternal notch recess or (ii) the 'Botticelli Sign' after Sandro Botticelli, where there is demonstrable cranio-cervical neck flexion that forward projects the visceral compartment of the neck that includes the thyroid to accentuate a recognisable thyroid enlargement. These are notable in the works of genius artists that include Verrocchio, Lorenzo di Credi, Filippo Lippi, Cosimo Tura and Francesco Cossa. Together, the work of these artistic geniuses add to the corpus of notable endocrine pathology in the Renaissance deriving from endemic iodine deficiency and autoimmunity. They demonstrate this profound extent of pathology within their artistic masterpieces and extend our admiration of the wider experience of Renaissance artists into the current era and beyond.

Keywords: eye signs; goiter; iodine deficiency; nail signs; thyroid autoimmunity.