title: The Mystery of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Goiter.
abstract: Whilst painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo Buonarroti left an autographical sketch that revealed a prominence at the front of his hyper-extended neck. This image was recently diagnosed as goiter. The poet Michelangelo in a sonnet dated 1509 described himself as being afflicted by goiter similarly to the cats in the northern Italian Lombardy, a region with endemic goiter. Several narratives extended this sonnet into a pathological theory. The analyses of Michelangelo's works, however, his portraits and self-portraits, of poems and major biographies, have not indicated the likelihood of goiter. This investigation makes an attempt to assess the diagnosis on clinical as well as iconographical grounds.
authors.affiliation: Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Villa Salaria Clinic, Rome, Italy;|Center for Medical Humanities, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy;
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lazzeri
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Humanities, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy;
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lippi
authors.affiliation: Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Villa Salaria Clinic, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Manuel Francisco
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Castello
authors.affiliation: School of Humanities, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.|School of Humanities, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Weisz