In a Michelangelo Fresco, Visions of a Brain Stem. "It has been hiding in plain sight for the past 500 years, and now two Johns Hopkins professors believe they have found it: one of Michelangelo’s rare anatomical drawings in a panel high on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was a conscientious student of human anatomy and enthusiastically dissected corpses throughout his life, but few of his anatomical drawings survive. This one, a depiction of the human brain and brain stem, appears to be drawn on the neck of God, but not all art historians can see it there."
posted by homunculus on Jun 21, 2010 - 62 comments

Not as good as being there, but pretty damn great. Sistine Chapel. (Uses Flash.)
posted by grumblebee on May 15, 2010 - 32 comments

When you were 12 or 13, did you like to draw scary monsters? Well, so did Michelangelo. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on May 14, 2009 - 61 comments

Some believe that Michelangelo's famous work the Creation of Adam depicts God superimposed on a cross-section of a human brain. Michelangelo routinely made use of symbolism and humor in both his painting and sculpture. Was he suggesting man created God? If so, this is delicious irony.
posted by gruchall on Oct 10, 2003 - 18 comments