Gallery: The Real Medical Conditions Behind the Deformed Hands in Rodin's Sculptures
Sarah Hegmann, Medical Artist, Division of Clinical Anatomy, Stanford School of Medicine01middle-hand-detail
A digital reconstruction of the bones, nerves (yellow), and blood vessels (red) from one of Chang's patients.
Sarah Hegmann, Medical Artist, Division of Clinical Anatomy, Stanford School of Medicine023-D-image-three-hands-in-row
This hand has a ganglion cyst (visible as a bump at the wrist in Rodin's sculpture at left). It's tricky to remove, Chang says, because of the nerves and arteries nearby.
Sarah Hegmann, Medical Artist, Division of Clinical Anatomy, Stanford School of Medicine03broken-hands
The posture of the fingers in this sculpture suggest multiple fractures, which are visible in a digital reconstruction of the bones (but not in this image).
Sarah Hegmann, Medical Artist, Division of Clinical Anatomy, Stanford School of Medicine04LargeLeftHandFixedRotated
A metal plate fixes the fracture and restores the posture of the hand from the previous slide.
James Chang05alpert-hand
The fused fingers of the hand highlighted here are indicative of Apert syndrome.
James Chang, MD06apert-hand-and-xray
An photograph of a hand with Apert syndrome marked in preparation for reconstructive surgery. The X-ray shows fused bones in the same hand.
Cantor Art Center07sculpture-1974
The posture of this hand is indicative of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited neurological condition.
Lane Medical Library, Stanford University School of Medicine08anatomy-drawing-L.32.1-detail
The new exhibit also includes pages from several historical anatomical texts. This one dates to 1585.
Lane Medical Library, Stanford University School of Medicine09anatomy-drawing-L.32.3
A plate from William Cheselden's *The Anatomy of the Bones*, from 1733.
Lane Medical Library, Stanford University School of Medicine10anatomy-drawing-2
A plate showing the hand musculature from *A Graphical Description of all the Muscles in the Humane Body*, published in 1697.
