Michelangelo (1475-1564), a renaissance genius, left on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel a superb work. Scholars consider this fresco, full of biblical figures, a great puzzle where the artist hid numerous anatomical parts. Two Brazilian authors1 described neuropareidolically2 details of putative interpretations of these paintings where they envisioned dozens of organs, bones, joints, and a number of other aspects of the human anatomy. Regardless its veracity one of these illations is remarkably curious. The Creator is seen floating over the earth conceiving trees and plants. According to the authors, his gluteous represent the mammillary bodies (Figure).
Detail of Michelangelo fresco (1511): "Creation of the sun, moon and plants". (A) 1. Buttocks; 2. Rounded volume; 3. Heels (Available at: http://www.artbible.info/art/large/663.html). (B) 1. Mammillary bodies; 2. Tuber cinereum with infundibulum of the pituitary gland; 3. Optic nerves (G. Wolf-Heidegger's Atlas of Systematic Human Anatomy Hafner Publishing Company Inc., New York, 1962).
References
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1Barreto G, Oliveira MG. Uma lição de anatomia na Capela Sistina. São Paulo: ARX; 2004. p. 78-9.
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2Maranhão Filho P, Vincent MB. Neuropareidolia diagnostic clues apropos of visual illusions. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2009;67(4):1117-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X2009000600033
» https://doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X2009000600033
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Feb 2015
History
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Received
22 Sept 2014 -
Reviewed
03 Oct 2014 -
Accepted
23 Oct 2014