Hand deformities in Filippino Lippi’s Magrini Altarpiece (c. 1482)

Examination of the four saints in Filippino Lippi’s Magrini Altarpiece (c. 1482) shows that they all have hand deformities of various kinds. The two saints on the viewer’s left, St Rocco and St Sebastian, are portrayed as young, aristocratic men. Those on the viewer’s right, St Jerome and St Helena, are depicted as a much older man and a young woman, respectively. It is of interest that the two young men have more significant deformities, while the older man and the young woman are less severely affected. The realism of the depiction of the young men’s hands makes it probable that the artist deliberately chose models with arthritic deformities or else painted the hands from memory after having observed other arthritis sufferers. As a more speculative concluding note, it is also suggested, on the basis of comparisons with other paintings from the same period, that the artist may have chosen to depict the young male saints’ hands in this way to emphasise both their aristocratic standing and the role of suffering and martyrdom in their traditional biographies.