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In an article on Rubens' painting “The Three Graces” Dequeker suggests that hypermobility is a medical explanation of the seeming scoliosis and Trendelenburg sign in the middle figure.1 But the posture of this middle figure should probably be interpreted as an artistic phenomenon without medical reference.
Sculptors in classical Greek and Roman periods often used the contrapposto posture. In this, by putting most weight on one leg, the other leg can be shown in a relaxed and semiflexed position. This undulating between tension and relaxation will animate the figure. A person with normal muscular function and a normal back can perfectly well pose in this way with relaxed hip abductors on the weightbearing side, a descending hip on the opposite side, and a compensating scoliotic posture. This posture is facilitated …