Althouse: "Maybe Michelangelo was hiding secret drawings of brains inside the Sistine Chapel's ceiling frescoes."

June 22, 2010

"Maybe Michelangelo was hiding secret drawings of brains inside the Sistine Chapel's ceiling frescoes."

"Makes total sense, right? Because... well, wait, it doesn't make any sense at all."

18 comments:

A.W. said...: they had something like that in cracked.com. Real life easter eggs in famous paintings, i think.

i'll try to find the link.

And actually maybe it makes sense. the idea that God is in our mind, or the mind is our real God, or the real creator, or something like that.; 6/22/10, 12:05 PM
Wince said...: What amazes me is that secret drawing of a piece of toast hidden in the fresco of Jesus.

Prophetic considering it was before the electric toaster and even the proverbial "best invention" of sliced bread.; 6/22/10, 12:10 PM
A.W. said...: Ah, here's the link. http://www.cracked.com/article_18386_7-mind-blowing-easter-eggs-hidden-in-famous-works-art.html

hopefully you can see the actual link correctly.

if not search cracked easter eggs and it should actually pop right up.

I get a feeling Ann would like the one on michelangelo's david.; 6/22/10, 12:12 PM
Pastafarian said...: Interesting Rorschach test. I wonder what the proctologists and urologists see.

Personally, it looks to me like God has a neck tatoo -- a line of Chinese symbols running vertically up the side of his neck.

Of course, I just took my daughters to the local carnival over the weekend, so I was exposed to a pretty large number of neck tattoos and various carny decorations.; 6/22/10, 12:16 PM
Christy said...: A.W., Did we know in Michelangelo's time that our mind was in the brain?

I choose to believe he snuck in bits that would only be noticed up close and personal, knowing few people would be up close.; 6/22/10, 12:21 PM
A.W. said...: Christy

Well, i should say i am passing on more info on the theory, and saying yeah, it makes some sense to me, more than actually advocating it.

As for did they know...

I am honestly unsure. I think it would be pretty hard to miss the fact that the head contained some kind of vital organ. I mean if you chop it off, the body immediately dies.

you can see some evidence of understanding of the function of the brain as far back at the 14th Cent. here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=brain&searchmode=none

i would say, yes, they probably knew even then that the brain was the center of thought.; 6/22/10, 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Look over there! That cloud looks like a bunny!; 6/22/10, 12:41 PM
A.W. said...: And if you trust wikipedia, it looks like Galen established that the brain is the center of thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain#History

i will add, btw, that cracked is a great site with a nice combo of humor and wtf type factoids.; 6/22/10, 12:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Michaelangelo, as did Leonardo, suposedly dissected corpses. His work clearly demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of anatomy. We tend to see what we want to see, but you would have to be blind or willfully ignorant not to admit at least a casual resemblance between the image behind God the Father in the Creation of Adam scene and the human brain. Coincidence? Whimsy? Maybe but it's certainly an open question.; 6/22/10, 12:49 PM
KCFleming said...: I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.; 6/22/10, 1:00 PM
tim maguire said...: Except it looks very little like the part of the brain he's supposed to have drawn beneath god's chin. Looks more like a scrotum to me.; 6/22/10, 1:03 PM
KCFleming said...: [zombie]BRAAAAIINSSS[/zombie]; 6/22/10, 1:22 PM
Unknown said...: Sounds like the Peanuts comic strip where Linus thought he saw the stoning of Saint Stephen in the clouds and Charlie Brown said, "I was going to say a duckie and a horsie".

Look at anything long enough and something will appear.; 6/22/10, 1:54 PM
KCFleming said...: I wish I'd said that.; 6/22/10, 1:57 PM
AllenS said...: Is everyone aware of the fact that Michelangelo followed his father's advice and never washed? Think about that.; 6/22/10, 2:01 PM
el polacko said...: it was thought that bathing opened one up to invasion by evil spirits.
queen elizabeth I never bathed either. she would just apply more and more white make-up to her face until, it is said, it was an inch-thick and heavily cracked.. and she wondered why she was a virgin.; 6/23/10, 1:20 AM
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