Art and Pediatric Orthopaedics: Ribera, an Artist for the Downtrodden

Abstract

Jusepe de Ribera’s most famous artistic works consisted of the bizarre such as mutilated bodies and social outcasts, with one being of a Neapolitan beggar boy with upper and lower limb joint contractures. Although the etiology of the boy’s contractures in The Clubfoot has been debated, we present a case for arthrogryposis with a unilateral clubfoot as the most likely diagnosis.