Hand Deformities in the Paintings of Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767), named 'il Pitocchetto' for his Depictions of the Poor

Abstract

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.