An American renal physician reckoned to have found convincing evidence that Michelangelo was familiar with the anatomy and function of the kidneys11. According to Eknoyan, the artist's interest in the kidney started when he became afflicted with urolithiasis and sought help from the most prominent physician in Rome, Realdo Colombo12. In the painting The Separation of Land and Water on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the mantle of the creator resembles a bisected right kidney11 (Figure 3); furthermore, use of this shape in a painting that represents the separation of land and water strongly suggested to Eknoyan that Michelangelo was well aware of the anatomy and function of the kidney (as understood at the time). In a letter to his nephew in which he complains about recurrent joint pains, Michelangelo mentions that he has been diagnosed as having gout13. Nephrologists, of course, may be especially apt to see kidney shapes. Similarly neurologists: previously an American neuroanatomist had noted that, in Michelangelo's fresco the Creation of Adam, also in the Sistine Chapel, the image surrounding God and the angels had the shape of a human brain14 (see Figure 3). According to Meshberger this was an encoded message from Michelangelo, signifying a belief that the ‘divine part’ humans receive from God is the intellect, and not life—an interpretation strengthened, in his opinion, by the fact that Adam, moments before his creation, is already alive, with his eyes open and completely formed.
Figure 3. Partial view of the frescos in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Open arrows point to kidney shape; solid arrows to brain shape
A digression from the theme of medicine in Michelangelo's art concerns the artist's own knee, which according to Espinel15 is depicted in a fresco by Raphael. The painting in the Vatican, commissioned by Pope Julius II at a time when Michelangelo was on site completing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, shows an individual with an enlarged and deformed right knee. The figure is in contemporary clothes and not, like others in the picture, in more classical dress. The lumps on the knee are interpreted as gouty tophi, in accordance with the artist's purported diagnosis. However, the notion that this person must be Michelangelo was soon refuted16.
Lastly, Michelangelo's work has been interpreted in psychiatric terms. An Argentine medical anthropologist found features of melancholy in the painting of the prophet Jeremiah in the Sistine Chapel17, and suggested that this portrayed the artist's own melancholy, from which he is said to have suffered for much of his life. Josef of Arimatea, part of the group in the Pieta seen at the Duomo in Florence, is likewise said to display features of melancholy17. In summary, it seems that Michelangelo's creative depictions of the human body allow for physicians from varied specialties to identify with different aspects of his work. Since art interpretation is subjective, the quest will doubtless continue.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-07-01 03:05 am (UTC)Figure 3. Partial view of the frescos in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Open arrows point to kidney shape; solid arrows to brain shape
A digression from the theme of medicine in Michelangelo's art concerns the artist's own knee, which according to Espinel15 is depicted in a fresco by Raphael. The painting in the Vatican, commissioned by Pope Julius II at a time when Michelangelo was on site completing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, shows an individual with an enlarged and deformed right knee. The figure is in contemporary clothes and not, like others in the picture, in more classical dress. The lumps on the knee are interpreted as gouty tophi, in accordance with the artist's purported diagnosis. However, the notion that this person must be Michelangelo was soon refuted16.
Lastly, Michelangelo's work has been interpreted in psychiatric terms. An Argentine medical anthropologist found features of melancholy in the painting of the prophet Jeremiah in the Sistine Chapel17, and suggested that this portrayed the artist's own melancholy, from which he is said to have suffered for much of his life. Josef of Arimatea, part of the group in the Pieta seen at the Duomo in Florence, is likewise said to display features of melancholy17. In summary, it seems that Michelangelo's creative depictions of the human body allow for physicians from varied specialties to identify with different aspects of his work. Since art interpretation is subjective, the quest will doubtless continue.