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He knew as well as anyone that their status is society could make or break the happiness of someone with the syndrome.
His finding is reviving an old controversy among doctors and historians: might life have been better for such children before the syndrome was recognised?
Discussing the painting in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, Dr Levitas wrote that, in the 16th century, disabilities were often treated harshly in society and portrayed in art as comic or evil. But there was no evidence the Dutch painter even viewed his subject as disabled.
"It is possible that those with milder degrees of mental handicap were not recognised as having what we now call mental retardation; individuals who were perceived as being slightly slow, in contrast to those with severe handicaps, might have been fully integrated into society," he wrote.
Though a Down syndrome child may have looked unusual, with no checklist of features or development, parents would have had no reason to treat the child as disabled.
There are lessons in the painting even today, Dr Levitas argues, because the present trend to bring people with Down syndrome into mainstream work and education involves little acceptance of their limitations.
Jill O'Connor, information officer of the Down Syndrome Association of NSW, said: "We tend to think of people with Down syndrome having been put away before our own enlightened times, but there is evidence that some families always brought their children up at home."
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