Michelangelo: Renowned Artist

Michelangelo: Renowned Artist and Expert Anatomist

Introduction to Humanities 100

What if upon entering the Sistine Chapel, instead of sacred scenes from biblical Christianity, you saw images of human anatomy painted on Michelangelo's famous frescos? Would it be profane? Symbolic? A form of self-expression? Certainly it would be surprising and seem out of place. Yet, a number of scholars believe just that: Michelangelo cleverly hid depictions of the human anatomy within the Sistine Chapel frescoes that showcased his advanced knowledge, skill and passion as an anatomist. A number of scholars discredit the notion of anatomical structures being hidden by Michelangelo within some of his most renowned work, such as Dr. Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, a professor of fine arts at New York University, who states, ''... I think it is a retrofit of ... modern knowledge onto Renaissance culture.'' (Angier) However, the case for these hidden images is strong.

During his lifetime Michelangelo was famous for his unassailable anatomical renderings of the human body. Known for such meticulous human sculptures as the Pieta and David, he also painted stunning anatomically precise scenes such as the The Creation and The Last Judgment frescoes at the Sistine Chapel. While Michelangelo is renowned for his many artistic feats, in particular his sculptures, his lifelong dedication and involvement in human anatomy and cadaver dissection are less well known.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, born in 1475 in what is modern day Tuscany, was originally sent to study writing. To his father's initial dismay he not only showed no interest in such a profession, but preferred instead a career in art. Yet, his father acceded to his thirteen year old son's wishes and arranged his apprenticeship with a prominent painter. Within a year Michelangelo had made his way to study sculpture under the patronage of the Medici family. It was during this time, from 1490 until 1492, that Michelangelo is thought to have begun his in-depth studies of the human anatomy, about which his biographer, Condivi, articulated that ". . . there is no animal whose anatomy he would not dissect, and he worked on so many human anatomies that those who have spent their lives at it and made it their profession hardly know as much as he does" (Eknoyan 1191) .

Conversely, at this same time the Catholic Church frowned heavily upon body dissection though this did not bar Michelangelo from dissecting cadavers. In fact, in 1493, Michelangelo made a wooden sculpture as a gift to a church prior who, in exchange, had arranged for cadavers to dissect from a local hospital and rooms at the church for Michelangelo to carry out the dissections. This is attested to by his biographer Vasari, who stated,

"For the church of Santo Spirito in Florence Michelangelo made a crucifix

of wood which was placed above the lunette of the high altar, where it still is. He

made this to please the prior, who placed rooms at his disposal where Michelangelo

very often used to flay dead bodies in order to discover the secrets of anatomy . . ."

(Meshberger, 2)

The Michelangelo works of paramount interest to medical scholars are the Sistine Chapel frescoes. According to Meshberger MD, in The Creation of Adam fresco, the figure of God along with his angelic hosts that are ensconced within his mantle purposely coalesce to make a secondary hidden image of a brain. (Meshberger 1-3) In support of this theory Meshberger cites Michelangelo's poetry, which considers man's 'divine portion' as the God-given intellect: