What is your interpretation of this? Michelangelo's Painting - The Creation of Adam

It's god in a brain touching man.

He was upset at the Pope and IMO his jab at the church.

NSFW

Just watched the clip. That's about how I view it also he studied anatomy so he knew what a brain looked like.

"Michelangelo's anatomy. When aged seventeen, Michelangelo had started his dissections of cadavers from the hospital at the Monastery of Santo Spirito after the death of his mentor Lorenzo de' Medici. ... Michelangelo made anatomical studies of the bodies obtained from the Santa Maria del Santo Spirito convent's hospital"

Arguing about a paintings intent 500 years after it was painted seems a bit silly to me.  There is something to be said for historical context.

Michelangelo was by all accounts a devout Catholic.  He may have been at odds at times with various Popes and some of the churches interpretations versus his own, but to suggest that he did not believe in divine creation is pretty foolish "brainless" if you will.  Michelangelo painted Adam with an extra rib in the painting apparently because he believed man and woman were created at the same time (versus the church view that man was created first).  The point is he believed in divine creation.  

Yes, Michelangelo studied cadavers extensively in his youth to study the human anatomy, but he was not known to have ever sketched a brain that I am aware of.  A brain is not easy to study - especially 500 years ago - da Vinci's sketches of the human brain seem very crude by modern standards.  None of the detail that these theories propose.  

There is also a theory that another brain is painted in Gods neck in another part of the Sistine chapel painting.  Google that and it seems more of a stretch.  

Could it represent a brain -sure.  It could also represent a womb.  Michelangelo's intent, if any, will never truly be known.

The babe under God's left arm belongs in the Mio Nipslip thread.

That painting always boosts my esteem.

MSU addict wrote:Arguing about a painting intent 500 years after it was painted seems a bit silly to me.  There is something to be said for historical context.

Michelangelo was by all accounts a devout Catholic.  He may have been at odds at times with various Popes and some of the churches interpretations versus his own, but to suggest that he did not believe in divine creation is pretty foolish "brainless" if you will.  Michelangelo painted Adam with an extra rib in the painting apparently because he believed man and woman were created at the same time (versus the church view that man was created first).  The point is he believed in divine creation.  

Yes, Michelangelo studied cadavers extensively in his youth to study the human anatomy, but he was not known to have ever sketched a brain that I am aware of.  A brain is not easy to study - especially 500 years ago - da Vinci's sketches of the human brain seem very crude by modern standards.  None of the detail that these theories propose.  

There is also a theory that another brain is sketched in Gods neck in another part of the Sistine chapel painting.  Google that and it seems more of a stretch.  

Could it represent a brain -sure.  It could also represent a womb.  Michelangelo's intent, if any, will never truly be known.

"Beginning in 1505, Michelangelo worked for nine consecutive Catholic pontiffs from Julius II to Pius IV. ... He had a particularly fraught relationship with the combative Pope Julius II, and once spent three years working on a marble façade for Leo X, only for the Pope to abruptly cancel the project."

MSU addict wrote:Arguing about a paintings intent 500 years after it was painted seems a bit silly to me.  There is something to be said for historical context.

Michelangelo was by all accounts a devout Catholic.  He may have been at odds at times with various Popes and some of the churches interpretations versus his own, but to suggest that he did not believe in divine creation is pretty foolish "brainless" if you will.  Michelangelo painted Adam with an extra rib in the painting apparently because he believed man and woman were created at the same time (versus the church view that man was created first).  The point is he believed in divine creation.  

Yes, Michelangelo studied cadavers extensively in his youth to study the human anatomy, but he was not known to have ever sketched a brain that I am aware of.  A brain is not easy to study - especially 500 years ago - da Vinci's sketches of the human brain seem very crude by modern standards.  None of the detail that these theories propose.  

There is also a theory that another brain is painted in Gods neck in another part of the Sistine chapel painting.  Google that and it seems more of a stretch.  

Could it represent a brain -sure.  It could also represent a womb.  Michelangelo's intent, if any, will never truly be known.

good post, thanks. a bit silly to some, but very interesting nonetheless.