Is it true that Michelangelo left secret messages on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel impresses visitors for more than five hundred years. Annually, a great work of art attracts millions of tourists and occupies a special place not only in world art, but also in Christianity.

History of frescoes

Michelangelo Buonarroti began this grandiose project in 33 years, in 1508. The chapel was opened to the public in 1512. The ceiling was given to him with difficulty and, according to Michelangelo himself, no money would be enough to pay for his infernal torments and sacrifices, to which he had to go.

He painted all the frescoes standing, and not lying on his back, as many believe. The hands and head, raised for hours on end, led to terrible headaches and muscle spasms.

Distribution of the fungus over the ceiling led to the fact that the first layer of frescos had to be completely removed. After the ceiling has dried again, Michelangelo independently prepared and applied the soil to avoid the repeated spread of the fungus.

The main architect of the Vatican, Donato Bramante, was not very fond of Michelangelo (probably because he patronized Raphael) and did not try to provide him with comfort, so Michelangelo himself had to design the woods on which it was convenient to work on painting the high ceilings of the chapel.

In addition, Michelangelo did not consider himself an artist, since he was already a well-known sculptor at that time, whose works (David and Pieta) were struck by beauty and realism. At the request of Pope Julius II, he had to take up the painting of the chapel, but the artist insisted on retaining the right to choose the plots.

Result of work

As a result, Michelangelo - the beginning artist - managed to create one of the greatest works of world art, which to this day intrigues and delights all connoisseurs of beauty.

Despite the hellish conditions and an incredible amount of work (over a thousand square meters), Michelangelo painted nine scenes from the Old Testament, including more than three hundred human figures depicted in real size. These images and incredibly accurate anatomy inspired generations of artists and scientists. The fresco "The Creation of Adam", on which the fingers of God and Adam almost touch, is one of the most recognizable and copied works of art in the history of mankind.

Hidden Characters

Although in 1508 in the courtyard there was a flowering of the high Renaissance, the church still differed in extreme severity, did not like and in every possible way stopped the attempts of great minds to spread too progressive ideas.

That is why the assumption that one of the greatest artists of history managed to hide the secret symbols in his most famous work is in itself exciting and intriguing.

Not all the symbols, however, were so secret. For example, in gratitude for the fact that Pope Julius II allowed Michelangelo to change the subjects of the frescoes, the artist painted acorns on many of them.

What's the point? The fact is that the name of the pope was Rovere, in translation from the Italian - the oak tree.

Symbolism of Judaism

Acorns were not the only part of the hidden symbolism that Michelangelo included in his work.

In the depiction of the Fall and expulsion from Paradise, there is no infamous apple tree in the Garden of Eden. In its place is a fig tree - a traditional element of the Jewish religion, and not Christianity.

In fact, in many scenes from the Old Testament, Michelangelo is actively using Jewish symbols. According to historians and art historians, the artist thus tried to send a kind of message to the church that Christianity has gone too far from its Judaic roots.

Image of God

However, Michelangelo himself strongly departed from Judaism at the moment when he decided to portray God.

Christianity is the only Abrahamic religion that allows people to create the image of God. Before Michelangelo in Western art, God was portrayed either as a hand or as a source of light, but did not take a clear physical form.

Michelangelo went against the accepted foundations and portrayed God in human form. It was this adult bearded man who became the typical image of God for the entire Christian world.

God is mind

Look attentively at the fresco "Creation of Adam," namely, the image of God and the angels around him. In 1990, the physician Frank Lynn Mashberger discovered that in the image of God and his retinue, the image of the human brain is hidden. According to art critics, this indicates that God gave Adam not only life, but reason.

The image of God and the retinue is so complex that not only its shape resembles the brain, but the individual elements of the fresco (for example, the foot of the angel) almost exactly repeat the outlines of the brain (pituitary).

Another brain

The study of the frescos, conducted in 2010, revealed another image of the brain, this time hidden in the fresco "Branch of Light from Darkness". Under the high raised chin of God, on his neck, a part of the human brain, namely the trunk, part of the temporal lobe and the medulla oblongata, is clearly visible.

This study was published in the journal Neurosurgery and was conducted by medical illustrator Ian Sook and neurosurgeon Raphael Tamargo.

According to them, Michelangelo, who had actively studied the anatomy on corpses since the age of 15, could not have accidentally portrayed such a complex construction on the neck of God - a part of the body that is usually smooth.

Female Start

A Brazilian study published in the journal Clinical Anatomy in 2016 found that, in addition to the brain, the artist also depicted other internal organs.

It was not without a female beginning. According to the researchers, the skull of a ram, which is depicted eight times on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, is very similar to the female reproductive organs.

In addition, the frescoes several times occur triangular shapes, represented by the point down, which has long symbolized the "sacred feminine". This was a popular motif in the classical Greco-Roman art. However, this attitude threatened the patriarchate of the Catholic Church.

It is untypical for all Western art of the time that in many scenes depicted on the ceiling of the chapel, women have a central role. Considering that the ceiling depicts exclusively scenes from the Old Testament, where there was no Virgin Mary with the baby, such attention to women is really unexpected.

Today one can only wonder if the hidden symbols were an attempt to circle the church around the finger, remind her of the roots or give a bow to science, reason and the female principle. Or maybe these characters have completely different meanings, or no symbols at all? Or maybe there are still a lot of hidden messages that no one has yet seen?