Michelangelo hid brain image in chapel, scientists say

[whopis01]

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/28/michelangelo-hid-brainstem-in-sistine-chapel-study-says/?hpt=C2

Some of Michelangelo's best known works may bear hidden messages suggesting that the human brain is among God's greatest creations, scientists say.

The great Italian Renaissance artist dissected cadavers to familiarize himself with the human body, so he could better paint it. And, according to a new analysis, he included a representation of the brainstem in his representation of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which he painted from 1508 to 1512.

Neurosurgeons Dr. Rafael Tamargo and Ian Suk of Johns Hopkins University looked closely at Michelangelo's painting "Separation of Light From Darkness," which depicts the beginning of the universe. They found that the neck of God in this painting appears to contain the human brainstem.

"He recognized that the brain was an important structure, and I think he included it in the creation of the universe because he recognized that this is one of the most magnificent things that God had created," Tamargo said.

I would tend to lean more to believing that he was trying to show that God - or at least this image of God - was a creation out of a human brain (or possibly that people are just reading too much into the image) - but either way, I thought that it was interesting.

[Recursion]

1. I thought the general opinion in the renaissance was that the brain was a radiator

The intellect and emotion were thought to be contained in the heart and liver. Maybe I'm mixing up my time periods.

[pundaint]

3. Why do you think he had to conceal it?

[Recursion]

4. I don't think he did

I'm not persuaded that we're looking at anything more than a neck and beard that happen to be more or less shaped like a brain.

[elehhhhna]

7. same here. looked. not feeling it. although

I feel that if there's an on-purpose message, it's that the god's spark is in the brain, rather than the brain having sparked the god delusion.

[Kber]

5. At the time, dissecting a body was an illegal desecration

so showing too great a familiarity of an internal organ could have gotten him in trouble.

[girl gone mad]

6. Da Vinci did amazing anatomical drawings..

many of which were hidden away in private libraries and behind walls, some undiscovered for centuries.

[elehhhhna]

8. yeppers, and so we must assume the extensive use of cadavers as models.

[Chulanowa]

9. Well... how would they know?

[jberryhill]

11. There is, in every time period, someone who believes anything

While there may be a prevailing opinion on any number of things, and there may be scholarly thinking which is wrong, what any one individual believed is up for grabs.

That the seat of consciousness is in the head was plainly obvious to anyone who obseved that it is the only part of the body to which injury affects consciousness. Bashing someone on the head knocks them out. It's been known for a very long time.

That whole business about people in Columbus' time thinking the world was flat is also bunk. Sure, you can find someone who believes anything, but the earth was known to be round for a long time.

[Recursion]

13. Tell that to Tyson

Bashing someone on the head knocks them out. It's been known for a very long time.

Tyson was KO'd once, and it was from a body blow. That's actually a much better punch to make someone pass out.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[Tutankhamun]

10. Mihelangelo is already known for hiding brains in his paintings.

"God in the Creation of Adam" is well-known to contain a detailed cross-section of the human brain. God is surrounded by, and actually forms part of the inside of, the brain. This is so clear and so detailed it can hardly be disputed.

The real question is why he would paint this. As much as I wish he were saying God is a creation of, or a part of, the human brain, this is unlikely. Michelangelo was devoutly religious and very tight with the church.

Possibly, the artist was paying homage to what h saw as one of God's great creations -- the human brain.

[jberryhill]

12. Or, he was a zombie...

[Recursion]

14. Umm...

God is surrounded by, and actually forms part of the inside of, the brain. This is so clear and so detailed it can hardly be disputed.

Umm... that's the painting this article is about. And two of us on this thread have disputed it. And it's disputed widely enough that this is a few researchers presenting this as a new finding.

[Tutankhamun]

15. No, you're wrong.

This post is about "Separation of Light from Darkness". The OP is discussing the brain stem in God's neck. I mentioned the entire brain cross-section in "God in the Creation of Adam". Different painting, different brain.

Come on, now!