Michelangelo and the Human Form: His Knowledge and use of Anatomy

The following observations of art historical interest are abstracted from a recently completed manuscript on surface anatomy. ¹ The manuscript is an expansion of two fields, medical surface anatomy and art anatomy, intended to bring them to the level of detail where they can be used to understand all the contours of the body’s surface that normally occur in life or in art. The principal examples of the book, upon which its findings are demonstrated, are the works of Michelangelo. Since the book was written in medical terminology, and since it is intended to serve as an analysis of surface contours in the general case, it necessarily led to observations about Michelangelo’s use and knowledge of anatomy which could not be appropriately included in the text itself. Some preliminary findings are summarized in this article. ²