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Published in: Neurological Sciences 1/2016

01-01-2016 | Letter to the Editor

A case of Horton's disease (with its potential neurological symptoms) depicted in a portrait by Andrea Mantegna

Authors: Francesco M. Galassi, Stefano Galassi

Published in: Neurological Sciences | Issue 1/2016

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Excerpt

The painting “Portrait of a Man in Profile” (Fig. 1), attributed to the painter Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) is part of the “Poldi Pezzoli” Museum (Milan). It shows an aged man in a lateral pose whose extremely realistically depicted traits immediately capture the onlooker’s attention. In particular, the windy turgidity of the temporal artery may suggest that the subject suffered from Horton's disease (also known as giant-cell arteritis), a condition which typically affects patients over 50, principally causing neurological symptoms such as headache as well as being associated to systemic symptoms such as fever and discomfort, polymyalgia rheumatica, visual loss—more specifically blindness—being its most severe complication [1]. Besides headache, neurological symptoms may include neuropathies, neuro-otologic syndromes, tremor, neuropsychiatric syndromes, TIA/strokes, tongue numbness and myelopathy, as found to occur in a set of patients with biopsy-proven giant-cell (temporal) arteritis [2]. Since Andrea Mantegna used to pay a great deal of attention to pathological conditions in his representations—as shown in the depiction of rickets in the young offspring of the Gonzaga family in the Camera degli Sposi in the Mantua Ducal Palace [3]—it is reasonable to think that, while in the act of portraying an old man with the traditional attributes of humanistic gravitas, he may have not neglected to paint an objectively patent pathological trait.
Literature
2.
go back to reference Caselli RJ, Hunder GG, Whisnant JP (1998) Neurological disease in biopsy-proven giant cell (temporal) arteritis. Neurology 38(3):352–359CrossRef Caselli RJ, Hunder GG, Whisnant JP (1998) Neurological disease in biopsy-proven giant cell (temporal) arteritis. Neurology 38(3):352–359CrossRef
3.
go back to reference Cipolla C, Malacarne G. (2006) El più soave et dolce et dilectevole et gratioso bochone. Amore e sesso al tempo dei Gonzaga. Franco Angeli, Milano, p 198 Cipolla C, Malacarne G. (2006) El più soave et dolce et dilectevole et gratioso bochone. Amore e sesso al tempo dei Gonzaga. Franco Angeli, Milano, p 198
Metadata
Title
A case of Horton's disease (with its potential neurological symptoms) depicted in a portrait by Andrea Mantegna
Authors
Francesco M. Galassi
Stefano Galassi
Publication date
01-01-2016
Publisher
Springer Milan
Published in
Neurological Sciences / Issue 1/2016
Print ISSN: 1590-1874
Electronic ISSN: 1590-3478
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2381-0

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