Brazilian doctors uncover 'Michelangelo code'

Jun 16, 11:31 AM (ET)

By Carlos A. DeJuana

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Two Brazilian doctors and amateur art lovers believe they have uncovered a secret lesson on human anatomy hidden by Renaissance artist Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.

Completed nearly 500 years ago, the brightly colored frescoes painted on the Vatican's famous sanctuary are considered some of the world's greatest works of art. They depict Biblical scenes such as the "Creation of Adam" in which God reaches out to touch Adam's finger.

But Gilson Barreto and Marcelo de Oliveira believe Michelangelo also scattered his detailed knowledge of internal anatomy across 34 of the ceiling's 38 panels. The way they see it, a tree trunk is not just a tree trunk, but also a bronchial tube. And a green bag in one scene is really a human heart.


The key to finding the numerous organs, bones and other human insides is to first crack a "code" they believe was left behind by the Florentine artist. Essentially, it is a set of sometimes subtle, sometimes overt clues, like the way a figure is pointing.

"Why wasn't this ever seen before? First, because very few people have the sufficient anatomical knowledge to see these pieces like this. I do because that's my profession," said Barreto, who is a surgeon in the Brazilian city of Campinas.

PAST DISCOVERIES

Barreto and his friend Oliveira are not the first physicians to see depictions of human organs in the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican church where popes are elected.

Fifteen years ago, U.S. doctor Frank Meshberger pointed out the figure of God and his surrounding angels in the "Creation of Adam" panel resembled a cross-section of the human brain.

He believes Michelangelo was equating God's gift of a soul for Adam with the divine gift of intelligence for mankind.

Packing up his desk as he prepared to move houses, Barreto came across Meshberger's theory.

"I said to myself, 'If there's a brain, he surely didn't just paint a brain. There have to be others,'" Barreto said.

Thumbing through books and pictures of the chapel all night, Barreto said he found five or six other anatomical depictions. He presented his findings to Oliveira the next day and the two probed further for three months.

The project culminated with their book "The Secret Art of Michelangelo," which was published in Brazil last year and has so far sold 50,000 copies, a very high number for Brazil. It is being negotiated for U.S., Spanish and Portuguese publication.

As part of their research, they discovered another U.S. doctor, Garabed Eknoyan, had found the figure of a kidney in the panel entitled "Separation of the Earth from the Waters."

CRACKING THE CODE

Eventually Barreto and Oliveira came to believe Michelangelo had left behind coded messages in each panel to help viewers find the hidden body part.

Some clues are thematic, such as "Creation of Adam" or "Creation of Eve," in which a tree trunk looks like a bronchial tube and God's purple robe is a representation of a lung when viewed from the side. One could say God is imparting the "breath of life" into Eve in the scene, Barreto said.

Another part of the code is to look at what figures surrounding the main character of each panel are doing.

In the "Cumaean Sibyl" scene, two cherubic figures embrace behind a bulky, muscular woman representing a mythological oracle. One cherub has his hands on the other's chest. Meanwhile, four other cherub-like figures underneath a painted pillar raise their arms to reveal their chest.

According to Barreto and Oliveira, a bag with a red frilly border and white rolled up scrolls inside hanging beside the Sibyl is a depiction of a heart, the diaphragm and the aorta.

Sometimes Michelangelo "points" to the hidden body part.

In the "Libyan Sibyl," a cherub pointing to his shoulder stands next to a twisting woman, her shoulder blade in the spotlight. Two other cherubs beneath the pillars point to their shoulders too.

If looked at upside down, the fold of the Sibyl's dress and the bottom of her trunk look like a rendition of the arm bone, or humerus, and the socket into which it fits on the shoulder.

"We've said it's actually a very infantile language, because it's all about looks, light, pointing," Barreto said.

When faced with the paintings and photographs of the anatomical body part side-by-side, Barreto and Oliveira's theory is conceivable, although some matches require a little bit of creativity. Some might say too much.

"The problem, and art historians too are certainly often guilty of this, is simply that we often see what we want to see," said Dennis Geronimus, a specialist on Renaissance art at New York University who had a chance to examine some of Barreto and Oliveira's "de-coded" matches.

Their proposals, he said, "stretch the visual evidence far beyond Michelangelo's own specific vocabulary of poses, gestures and symbolic relationships."

Indeed, why would Michelangelo hide drawings of human organs in the Sistine Chapel?

Barreto and Oliveira say they aren't sure, but it is well known that Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists were obsessed with human anatomy and the human body. There are also other examples of artists "hiding" objects in their paintings, images that can only be seen from a certain perspective.

Still, the two doctors have sent their book to art historians and anatomical specialists in Portugal to get their opinion, and plan to eventually get the Vatican's opinion too.

"We're not here to play around. We believe this is a great discovery for the arts," Barreto said. "The only thing we want to do is spread this knowledge."





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Victory! Freedom to Read Amendment Passes by 238 - 187 Vote

In a vote that sends a clear message to the Bush administration that Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act needs to be amended to protect Americans' right to privacy, the House today passed Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill by a vote of 238 - 187. The Sanders amendment cuts Justice Department funds for bookstore and library searches under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. On Tuesday, the Bush Administration had warned that it would veto the House Appropriations Bill if it included any amendments that would weaken the Patriot Act, as reported by the Washington Post.

Today's vote represents a significant victory for Sanders and the many free speech groups and civil liberties advocates, including the Campaign for Reader Privacy, who believe that Section 215 is a dangerous erosion of constitutional rights. "This victory clearly shows that you can fight city hall and win, and demonstrates the enormous power of booksellers to influence public policy," said ABA COO Oren Teicher. "We'd like to congratulate and thank Rep. Sanders, as well as booksellers and all those who participated in the Campaign for Reader Privacy. As was said at ABA's Celebration of Bookselling 10 days ago, America's readers have never had a better friend or stronger supporter than we have in Bernie."

While the victory was significant, Teicher stressed that today's vote does not mean the fight to amend Section 215 is over. "The battle will continue as Congress looks to reauthorize 215 and the other sunsetting provisions of the Patriot Act at the end of this year," he said. "We need to redouble our efforts, and we urge booksellers to continue to collect signatures on reader privacy petitions and to contact their congressional representatives to ask them to support an amendment to Section 215 to protect readers' First Amendment rights."

The debate prior to the vote was an intense one, with those in favor of the amendment emphasizing that civil liberties do not have to be sacrificed for the sake of security and those opposed to the amendment warning that it would give terrorists a safe haven in bookstores and libraries. "This amendment seeks to build a sanctuary for terrorists," declared Tom Feeney (R-FL), "that's all it does."

However, Butch Otter (R-ID) retorted that, like any former prosecutor who worked for the government, "my colleague seems frustrated by the Constitution."

And Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) cautioned, "It's time to remember where we come from as a nation … a nation that stands up for civil liberties!"

In conclusion, Sanders stressed that, not only are the American Library Association and ABA in favor of amending Section 215, but that "seven states in America have gone on record expressing serious concerns" regarding the provision. Furthermore, he continued, hundreds of thousands of citizens have informed their representatives that they are concerned about Section 215, as well.

For more information about the Campaign for Reader Privacy, go to http://www.bookweb.org/read/7679

Victory! Freedom to Read Amendment Passes by 238 - 187 Vote

In a vote that sends a clear message to the Bush administration that Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act needs to be amended to protect Americans' right to privacy, the House today passed Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill by a vote of 238 - 187. The Sanders amendment cuts Justice Department funds for bookstore and library searches under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. On Tuesday, the Bush Administration had warned that it would veto the House Appropriations Bill if it included any amendments that would weaken the Patriot Act, as reported by the Washington Post.

Today's vote represents a significant victory for Sanders and the many free speech groups and civil liberties advocates, including the Campaign for Reader Privacy, who believe that Section 215 is a dangerous erosion of constitutional rights. "This victory clearly shows that you can fight city hall and win, and demonstrates the enormous power of booksellers to influence public policy," said ABA COO Oren Teicher. "We'd like to congratulate and thank Rep. Sanders, as well as booksellers and all those who participated in the Campaign for Reader Privacy. As was said at ABA's Celebration of Bookselling 10 days ago, America's readers have never had a better friend or stronger supporter than we have in Bernie."

While the victory was significant, Teicher stressed that today's vote does not mean the fight to amend Section 215 is over. "The battle will continue as Congress looks to reauthorize 215 and the other sunsetting provisions of the Patriot Act at the end of this year," he said. "We need to redouble our efforts, and we urge booksellers to continue to collect signatures on reader privacy petitions and to contact their congressional representatives to ask them to support an amendment to Section 215 to protect readers' First Amendment rights."

The debate prior to the vote was an intense one, with those in favor of the amendment emphasizing that civil liberties do not have to be sacrificed for the sake of security and those opposed to the amendment warning that it would give terrorists a safe haven in bookstores and libraries. "This amendment seeks to build a sanctuary for terrorists," declared Tom Feeney (R-FL), "that's all it does."

However, Butch Otter (R-ID) retorted that, like any former prosecutor who worked for the government, "my colleague seems frustrated by the Constitution."

And Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) cautioned, "It's time to remember where we come from as a nation … a nation that stands up for civil liberties!"

In conclusion, Sanders stressed that, not only are the American Library Association and ABA in favor of amending Section 215, but that "seven states in America have gone on record expressing serious concerns" regarding the provision. Furthermore, he continued, hundreds of thousands of citizens have informed their representatives that they are concerned about Section 215, as well.

For more information about the Campaign for Reader Privacy, go to http://www.bookweb.org/read/7679

The University of Minnesota Libraries presents the unveiling of the largest book ever made

Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom



Witness the unveiling of Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom, the newest acquisition by the rare books department of the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Bhutan is the largest book ever made, according to Guinness World Recordsª, weighing more than 130 pounds and measuring 5 feet by 7 feet.

But Bhutan is more than just a big book. It features stunning, full-color photographs of the architecture, dance festivals, native costumes and people of Bhutan, a tiny kingdom northeast of India which some have called ‘the last shangri-la’ because of its rich ecology and unspoiled culture.

This unique book was printed in an edition of 500 copies, one of which was recently donated to the University of Minnesota Libraries. Creator and photographer Michael Hawley, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will discuss how his scientific expeditions to Bhutan led to the creation of this wondrous book.

For more information:
The University of Minnesota Libraries : Bhutan the largest book ever made