Premium
The hidden symbols of the female anatomy in Michelangelo Buonarroti's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel
Author(s) -
de Campos Deivis,
Malysz Tais,
BonattoCosta João Antonio,
Jotz Geraldo Pereira,
de Oliveira Junior Lino Pinto,
Wichmann Jéssica Francine,
Goulart Guilherme Reghelin,
Stefani Marco Antonio,
da Rocha Andrea Oxley
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
clinical anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1098-2353
pISSN - 0897-3806
DOI - 10.1002/ca.22764
Subject(s) - chapel , the renaissance , context (archaeology) , meaning (existential) , medicine , theme (computing) , ceiling (cloud) , anatomy , visual arts , art , art history , computer science , history , psychology , archaeology , world wide web , physics , meteorology , psychotherapist
A number of published articles have suggested that each element of Renaissance art contains an inner meaning. Some of these elements include the choice of theme and protagonists, faces selected for the characters, colors used, species of flowers and trees chosen, animals depicted, positions of the elements, posture of the characters and their gestures, juxtapositions in the scenes, and even the very scenario or landscape. All of these elements are thought to have hidden meanings. In this context, this manuscript presents a new hypothesis suggesting that Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) may have concealed symbols associated with female anatomy in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (painted 1508–1512) in Rome. Thus, this paper is useful to better understand the history of anatomy and corroborates recent descriptions that have suggested the possible existence of anatomic figures concealed in many of Michelangelo's works. Clin. Anat. 29:911–916, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.