Experts suggest Michelangelo depicted breast cancer in a Sistine Chapel fresco

A group of international experts led by forensic pathologist Andreas G. Nerlich (Andreas G. Nerlich) from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich suggested that Michelangelo’s fresco “The Flood” in the Sistine Chapel depicts a young woman with signs of breast cancer.

In the article “Did Michelangelo depict a young woman with breast cancer in the painting The Flood (Sistine Chapel, Rome)?” published in The Breast, experts from Germany, Italy, France, Austria and the UK, representing fields such as art history, medicine, genetics and pathology, focused on the specific female figure on the right side of the Flood painting using an iconodiagnosis guide.

The Flood is the first scene Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508. The woman is depicted almost naked, wearing only a blue headscarf (indicating her married status) and a blue cloak. Behind her back stands a small child who is crying.

Iconodiagnosis is a process of medical analysis that looks for clinical signs of medical disorders and diseases in works of art. This method is often used to obtain information about pathologies in different paleohistorical periods. The process requires the collaboration of experts in biomedicine, medical history, and art history before any conclusions can be drawn.

On inspection, the left breast appears normal, with age-related or lactation-related ptosis, prominent nipple, and smooth contours.

The right breast has significant abnormalities: retracted and deformed nipple, retracted areola skin with medial erosion, and a deep depression resembling a scar over the nipple. Minor bulges in the upper medial quadrant and toward the axilla suggest the presence of swelling, possibly indicating enlarged lymph nodes.

Michelangelo’s familiarity with human anatomy may have allowed him to accurately depict specific pathological features. The study indicates that from the age of 17, Michelangelo assisted in autopsies where he could observe pathologic changes potentially including breast cancer.

The research team followed iconodiagnostic guidelines for a thorough analysis, including exclusion diagnosis and evaluation of any artifacts of restoration on the fresco. Tuberculosis and postpartum mastitis, diseases common during the Renaissance, were considered, but were ruled out. Chronic diseases such as plasma cell mastitis, commonly seen in elderly women, were also excluded due to the obvious youth of the model.

Comparison with Michelangelo’s other works shows that he certainly knew how to depict healthy female breasts. In the female figures from The Last Judgment and such sculptures as Dawn and Night in the Medici Chapel, the breasts are depicted symmetrically, with no signs of pathology, reinforcing the idea that the anomalies in The Flood were intentional.

As a result of the analysis of the study, it was concluded that the detected features correspond to those necessary for the iconodiagnosis of breast carcinoma.

There is also a famous story of Michelangelo’s mother, Francesca del Sera, falling from a horse while pregnant with him. Both survived unharmed, which was considered a miracle in the family.

What is also interesting in the painting is that the small child behind the woman appears to be about five or six years old – the same age Michelangelo was when his mother died at the age of 30 after a long illness.

If the painting depicts Francesca, this could be the reason for the detailed depiction of the pathology that may have taken her life. It could also explain why the child is holding something that looks very much like a scalpel.

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Published: 12.11.2024

Updated: 12.11.2024

Medical author, Medical editor:

Stepan Yuk

Medical expert:

PhD. Olexandr Voznyak