Progeria

Albrecht Dürer
May 21, 1471, Nuremberg – April 6, 1528, Nuremberg, Germany

This painting is the last work Dürer ever created.
It testifies to Dürer's curiosity to portray the unusual.

♦ Child with a long beard (1527) ♦

♦ Diagnosis
Important symptoms: juvenile, gray hair and beard
Secondary symptoms: child with fine skin texture
Clinical symptoms: progeria

♦ Definition: progeria
Premature senility: a condition with symptoms of both infantilism and senility. The premature aging may be due to an extreme degree of arteriosclerosis (arteriosclerosis).

♦ Discussion
A child with gray hair and a beard.
You might think of the clinical diagnosis of premature aging (progeria), were it not for the fact that the child has such fine skin texture. If this child really suffered from progeria, you would also see signs of aging on the skin, which is clearly not the case here.

Excessive hair growth (hypertrichosis) is also unlikely, although it does occur in children as a congenital abnormal development of the outer germ layer of the embryo (ectodermal dysplasia).
This unusual work by Albrecht Dürer, who usually produces realistic images, is difficult to interpret.
It could, of course, be an allegorical representation of Paedogeron, the puer-senex, symbolizing both child and old man in one person.

Source: Jan Dequeker
The artist and the doctor look at paintings

Jan Dequeker
The artist and the doctor look at paintings

Photos
wikipedia.org
wikigallery.org

♦ Leon Botha
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/progeria-leon-botha-adri-liversage.html