Neurocutaneous syndromes in art and antiquities

Neurocutaneous syndromes are a group of genetic disorders (mainly) affecting the skin, the central and peripheral nervous system and the eye with congenital abnormalities and/or tumors. Manifestations may also involve the heart, vessels, lungs, kidneys, endocrine glands and bones. When people with these disorders are portrayed in works of art, physicians have speculated on possible diagnoses. In particular, many figures have been labeled as having or attributed to a neurocutaneous disorder, which in some cases, has distorted the popular conception of these diseases. We review numerous illustrated documents, drawings, prints, lithographs, xylographs and portraits which span the ages from the ancient kingdoms and empires, across the early and late Middle Ages, the early and late Renaissance, to the era of the pioneers behind the eponyms, across the two industrial revolutions and to the period of modern art which depict a large spectrum of neurocutaneous disorders.