The Iconography of Goiter: Five Sculptures in the Sacred Mountains of Varallo, Orta, and Varese in Italy.

Abstract

Many of the representations of individuals with goiters reported in the literature actually refer to occasional swelling of the anterior neck, or "pseudogoiter," the artists not having any plan to expose this pathology. The article describes five representations of goiters, as observed by the authors in the sculptures of the Sacred Mountains of Varallo, Orta, and Varese, Italy. They are classical and appropriate examples of the iconography of "real goiter," since in these cases the sculptors had the definite aim of showing persons with goiter.