Intertwining art, religion and anatomy: did Michelangelo Buonarroti influence Berengario da Carpi's representation of a maternal death?

To confirm that the sixteenth century surgeon-anatomist, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, used a woman who died of a ruptured uterus as a model for a woodcut of female genital anatomy, and that the presentation was based on the cloak in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam after visiting the Sistine Chap...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine 2022-06, Vol.35 (11), p.2149-2155
Main Authors: Lippi, Donatella, Susini, Tommaso, Donell, Simon, Bianucci, Raffaella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Famous Persons
Female
Gynecology
History, 16th Century
Humans
Male
Maternal Death
Michelangelo
obstetrics
Paintings - history
Parturition
post mortem Caesarean section
Pregnancy
Religion
Sistine Chapel
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To confirm that the sixteenth century surgeon-anatomist, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, used a woman who died of a ruptured uterus as a model for a woodcut of female genital anatomy, and that the presentation was based on the cloak in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam after visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican whilst he was in Rome. Analysis of the woodcut for evidence of a uterus at term, and comparison with the shape of the cloak in the Creation of Adam, coupled with Berengario's own description. The size of the uterus is that in the 38th to 40th week of pregnancy, further supported by striations of the endometrial surface, rather than the smooth surface of the non-gravid. By rotating the woman's image 90° counterclockwise, the outline of the woman's cloak becomes almost perfectly superimposed over God's cloak. In the woodcut, the open belly of the model shows typical features of the full-term uterus. The use of God's cloak softens the features. At the same time, it exemplifies the creative power of God and describes the birth of humanity in both theological and physiological ways. Intertwining art, religion and anatomy, Michelangelo and Berengario allow scholars to appreciate the concepts of divinity and humanity at multiple levels.
ISSN:1476-7058
1476-4954
DOI:10.1080/14767058.2020.1782378