A dermatologic view on claws and nails in fine arts.

Claws and nails belong to the epidermal skin appendages, with nails developing later than claws during primate development. Both have also been depicted in fine arts. Claws can be found in illustrations of the cavemen and the devil. Nails became a subject of painting and sculptures during the Renaissance. We discuss several examples of fine arts from a dermatologic point of view, involving nail afflictions associated with ergotism, lichen planus, trachyonychia, and onychogryphosis.