The Creation of Adam

In 1990 in Anderson, Indiana, physician Frank Meshberger noted in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the background figures and shapes portrayed behind the figure of God appeared to be an anatomically accurate picture of the human brain.[15] On close examination, borders in the painting correlate with major sulci of the cerebrum in the inner and outer surface of the brain, the brain stem, the frontal lobe, the basilar artery, the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm.[15][16]

Alternatively, it has been observed that the red cloth around God has the shape of a human uterus (one art historian has called it a "uterine mantle"[17]) and that the scarf hanging out, coloured green, could be a newly cut umbilical cord.[18] Recently a group of Italian researchers published on Mayo Clinic Proceedings an article where the images of the mantle and the postpartum uterus were overlapped.[19] According to Enrico Bruschini (2004), "This is an interesting hypothesis that presents the Creation scene as an idealised representation of the physical birth of man ("The Creation"). It explains the navel that appears on Adam, which is at first perplexing because he was created, not born of a woman."[20]

Additionally, Deivis Campos notes in Clinical Anatomy Journal that the left side of Adam’s torso contains an extra concealed rib.[21] Due to Michelangelo’s in-depth knowledge of human anatomy, he insinuates that this rib outline is intentional, and represents the rib of Eve.[21]

Campos suggests that this extra rib inclusion was a way for Michelangelo to represent Adam and Eve being created side by side, which differs from the Catholic tradition that states Eve was created after Adam.[21] There is significant evidence that Michelangelo radically disagreed with many Catholic traditions and had a tumultuous relationship with the commissioner of the ceiling, Pope Julius II. Thus, Campos suggests that the rib inclusion was an intentional way to slight Pope Julius II and the Catholic Church, without having to admit fault, as very few people knew anything about human anatomy at the time and could challenge the piece.[21] However, in the book of Genesis the creation of men and women has two versions: Gen 2, 22[22] is the creation of Eve from the rib of Adam, but before this, in Gen 1, 27,[23] there is another story when male and female were created side by side: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them". So, at least for this rib, there is no support for the assumption that Michelangelo was against any Catholic tradition.

Michelangelo completed two sketches in Rome in preparation for the Creation of Adam scene. They are both on display in the British Museum in London, revealing Michelangelo’s in depth planning process for the Sistine Chapel ceiling composition, and his serious attention to perspective and shadowing [24].

The first, is a Scheme for the Decoration of the Vault of the Sistine Chapel: Studies of Arms and Hands.[28] The right side of the page was sketched in 1508 with black chalk, and is a study of Adam’s limp hand, before it is ignited with the gift of life from God, in the Creation of Adam scene. Michelangelo sketched this over a previous brown, lead point stylus study of the vaulted Sistine Chapel ceiling[28]. The entire composition is 274 millimeters in height and 386 millimeters in width[28]. The second sketch is titled Studies of a Reclining Male Nude: Adam in the Fresco ‘The Creation of Man.’ It was created in 1511 in dark red chalk, over a stylus under drawing.[29] Red chalk was Michelangelo’s preferred medium at this period of time, as it could be shaved to a finer point than black chalk. Michelangelo used this fine point to create a scintillating skin surface, that was unique for this particular sketch, and is not seen in his later works[24]. The recto drawing is 193 millimeters in height and 259 millimeters in width[29].

In the Studies of a Reclining Male Nude: Adam in the Fresco ‘The Creation of Man, Adam is resting on earth, propped up by his forearm, with his thighs spread out and his torso slightly twisted to the side[29]. Michelangelo employed a male model to capture this effortful pose and used his red chalk to develop thick contours, in order to establish a definitive form, so every chapel visitor could clearly recognize the muscular body from standing on the floor, 68 feet below the ceiling[29].

In Michelangelo’s final fresco on the ceiling, Adam is physically beautiful, but spiritually still incomplete.[30] The sketch prefaces this story, as it is also incomplete in the sense that the only complete component of the drawing is Adam’s twisted torso. Adam’s other limbs bleed off of the trimmed page in immature form[24]. However, the work is not “unfinished,” as it reached its purpose for Michelangelo, which was to work out the details of the torso in the medium of chalk, so he was confident in the composition when he began the actual, permanent fresco panel.[31]

Michelangelo heavily studied the human body and dissected numerous cadavers in his artistic career, and overtime became captivated by the male torso[31]. In his treatises on painting and sculpture, Leon Battista Alberti, defined the male figure as a "geometrical and harmonious sum of its parts[24]." Michelangelo however, felt that the torso was the powerhouse of the male body, and therefore warranted significant attention and mass in his art pieces.[32] Thus, the torso in the Study represents an idealization of the male form, “symbolic of the perfection of God’s creation before the fall[29]."

Michelangelo’s inspiration for the torso in the Studies of a Reclining Male Nude: Adam in the Fresco ‘The Creation of Man sketch, is believed to be the Belvedere Torso.[33] The Belvedere Torso is a fragmentary marble statue that is a 1^st century BC Roman copy of an ancient Greek sculpture. Michelangelo historically used ancient, classical statuary as inspiration for the human physique in his great masterpieces[33]. In 2015, the Belvedere Torso was displayed with Michelangelo’s sketch in the “Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art” show at the British Museum in London.[34]

Fair as the young men of the Elgin marbles, the Adam of the Sistine Chapel is unlike them in a total absence of that balance and completeness which express so well the sentiment of a self-contained, independent life. In that languid figure there is something rude and satyr-like, something akin to the rugged hillside on which it lies. His whole form is gathered into an expression of mere expectation and reception; he has hardly strength enough to lift his finger to touch the finger of the creator; yet a touch of the finger-tips will suffice.

— Walter Pater, The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, "The Poetry of Michelangelo"