Abstract
A well documented, recently published historical case report suggested that Lisa Gherardini, the model who sat for Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait of Mona Lisa, had a hypothyroid condition(1). This prompted us to point to another provocative claim by the French physician and writer Louis Aragon (1897–1982) on the models engaged by Henri Matisse (1869–1954) in the 1930s and 1940s, which in our opinion is not convincing.
Aragon wrote in his extraordinary homage and memoir Henri Matisse, roman, “Le règne des troubles thyroïdiens est à peu près universel dans les oeuvres des années trente et quarante, chez Matisse [thyroid troubles as a rule are practically universal in Matisse's work of the 30s and 40s]” (2). It therefore seemed justified to look briefly into the thyroid history of the art of Matisse and to try to rectify some misconceptions. Matisse was an admirer of Jean Dominique Ingres (1780–1867). Indeed, some art historians saw Ingres-like traits in Matisse's art and even conceded an influence and similarity in some of the paintings, such as “La grande robe bleue et mimosa” (April 1937) by Matisse and “Madame Moitessier” (1856) by Ingres (3). A similarity was detected in the type of models chosen by both painters and in the tendency toward orientalism manifested in their “odalisques.” Art critiques reproached Ingres for falsifying the normal anatomy of female necks as being too long and disproportionally large. Others saw a sensual element of style in the marked neck profiles, which they called “l'arabesque du corps.” Eventually, with improved endocrinologic knowledge, the enlarged necks became signs of thyroid enlargement.
For the Ingrist Henry Lapauze (1867–1925), the thyroid enlargement was in full agreement with erotic grace—“grâce paresseuse”—and female maturity often seen after pregnancy with its thyroid hypertrophy (4). In 1911, a young doctor, Henry Verdier from Versailles, saw in the “type féminin d'Ingres” distinct signs of illness. He claimed “les femmes d'Ingres présentent toute la symptomatologie objective de l'insuffisance thyroïdienne,” and Professor Maxime Laignet-Lavastine (1875–1953), neurologist, psychiatrist, medical historian, and forensic physician, who in 1929 plagiarized Verdier, concluded, “Le cou des femmes d'Ingres forme le premier chapitre d'une sémiologie du corps thyroïdien” (2). It is of note that hypothyroid function was assigned to mature, sensual women, whereas hyperthyroid function causing protruding eyes was attributed to voluptuous women. Aragon searched in the work of Matisse for “catactères thyroïdiens,” that is, models with diagnoses of thyroid disease (2). He thought that Matisse favored the hypothyroid type of rather opulent models already in 1916, with increasing frequency in later years. What a unique discovery: a medical condition to mirror female beauty during a distinct art period—or rather was it a deception by Aragon in search of originality?
We would like to provide first-hand evidence that Aragon's hypothesis of hypothyroid models used by Matisse in his “classical period” cannot be substantiated. First, in the years 1933–1940, Matisse only employed two young, expressive Russian emigrants as his main models: Lydia Delectorskaya (1910–1998) and Hélène Galitzine (Madame Mercier-Galitzine; 1912–1966) (5 –8). Lydia Delectorskaya was his studio administrator, muse, and all-round personal support until his death (7), and Princess Hélène Galitzine (“Hélène”) was an inspirational model from 1935 to 1940 before she moved to Switzerland in 1943 (5,8). Hélène Galitzine—the mother of the author H.G-M. and mother-in-law of E.G-M.—never showed any signs of thyroid disease (abnormal thickening of the neck, enlargement of the thyroid, diffuse or nodular goiter, behavioral change, “caractère hypothyroïdien”; witness, pers. commun. H.G.-M). Second, Lydia Delectorskaya meticulously documented in photographs the work of Matisse from the years 1935–1939 (5) and 1939–1943 (6). This chronological documentation may serve as additional proof for a lack of signs of thyroid disease in the models of that period. Thus, Hélène Galitzine and her befriended colleague Lydia Delectorskaya do not support Aragon's hypothesis that Matisse preferred the “caractère hypothyroïdien” in his art. Interestingly, Aragon never discussed this issue with Matisse and only formulated his assumptions as unpublished material written in 1968–1969 (2). In 1971, Aragon added it as separate chapter to Henri Matisse, roman, the lavishly illustrated book printed by Gallimard in two volumes 17 years after the death of Henri Matisse and 30 years after Aragon's first encounter with the artist recovering in Nice in 1941 from a life-saving surgical intervention in Lyon (2,8).
We conclude that the enlarged necks simply reflect in most cases artistic liberty, not an abnormal thyroid phenotype or function (thyrotropin measurements were not yet available). The unprejudiced observer may recognize in the oeuvre of Matisse just healthy, beautiful women. According even to Aragon, Matisse painted “pour embellir le monde.”