page_title: Separation of Light from Darkness
section_title: Anatomical interpretations
hierarchical_section_title: Separation of Light from Darkness / Anatomical interpretations
caption_attribution_description: English: Composite view of concealed neuroanatomical images in Michelangelo's Separation of Light from Darkness in the Sistine Chapel as proposed by Ian Suk and Rafael Tamargo in Neurosurgery, Vol. 66:pp851-861,May 2010.
context_page_description: The Separation of Light from Darkness is, from the perspective of the Genesis chronology, the first of nine central panels that run along the center of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and which depict scenes from the Book of Genesis. Michelangelo probably completed this panel in the summer of 1512, the last year of the Sistine ceiling project. It is one of five smaller scenes that alternate with four larger scenes that run along the center of the Sistine ceiling. The Separation of Light from Darkness is based on verses 3–5 from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis:
  ³And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
  ⁴God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
  ⁵God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
  Although in terms of the Genesis chronology it is the first of nine central panels along the Sistine ceiling, the Separation of Light from Darkness was the last of the nine panels painted by Michelangelo. Michelangelo painted the Sistine ceiling in two stages.
context_section_description: Several authors have proposed that Michelangelo concealed anatomical images in this fresco and that these anatomical images account for its unusual features. In an article published in the journal Neurosurgery in May 2010, Ian Suk, a medical illustrator, and Rafael Tamargo, a neurosurgeon, both from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, suggested that Michelangelo concealed three neuroanatomical images in the Separation of Light from Darkness. Suk and Tamargo explained that Michelangelo started to dissect cadavers at the age of 17–19 years and continued his anatomical studies throughout his life. As a result of his dissections, Michelangelo probably developed a detailed understanding of gross anatomy of the brain and spinal cord. They showed that the anatomical details in God's neck are unlike those of either other necks painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel or of other necks painted by Michelangelo's contemporaries, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael). The unusual anatomy of God's neck is particularly evident when it is contrasted with the anatomy of the neck of the ignudo facing God in the upper left corner of the panel. The position of the neck of this ignudo is almost identical to that of God's neck, yet the ignudo's neck does not have any of the unusual lines found in God's neck. It is possible that Michelangelo placed these two analogous neck perspectives side by side to emphasize and contrast the hidden image in God's neck.
  Suk and Tamargo suggested that Michelangelo concealed a sophisticated image of the undersurface of the brainstem in God's neck and that by following Michelangelo's lines in God's neck, one can outline an anatomically correct image of the brainstem, cerebellum, temporal lobes, and optic chiasm. In addition, they suggested that Michelangelo also included an anterior view of the spinal cord in God's chest and an image of the optic nerves and globes in God's abdomen. They showed how a "shadow analysis" of the unusual lines in God's neck correspond to specific spaces around the brainstem known as the "arachnoid cisterns," which were described in detail much later in 1875 but which Michelangelo inadvertently depicted in God's neck since he was able to render images with almost photographic accuracy. They concluded that "being a painter of genius, a master anatomist, and a deeply religious man, Michelangelo cleverly enhanced his depiction of God in the iconographically critical panels on the Sistine Chapel vault with concealed images of the brain and in this way celebrated not only the glory of God, but also that of His most magnificent creation."
  Of note is that in an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October 1990, Frank Meshberger, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Indiana, explained that Michelangelo similarly concealed an image of the brain in the shroud surrounding God in the Creation of Adam. Since Michelangelo painted the Creation of Adam and the Separation of Light from Darkness, along with two other Genesis panels, as a single thematic unit between the winter of 1511 and October 1512, it is possible that these four central panels have an underlying anatomical motif. Indeed, Garabed Eknoyan, a nephrologist from Baylor College of Medicine, proposed in an article published in Kidney International in March 2000 that Michelangelo concealed an image of a kidney in the Separation of Land and Water, the third panel in the Genesis series. Michelangelo was particularly interested in kidney function because he suffered from kidney stones throughout his adult life and documented this interest in his letters and poems, according to Eknoyan.
  Alternatively, the concealed anatomical image in God's neck in the Separation of Light from Darkness has been interpreted as a goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland). In an article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in December 2003, Lennart Bondeson and Anne-Greath Bondeson from Malmo University Hospital in Sweden, argued that the abnormality in God's neck is a goiter. Thi
caption: Suk and Tamargo proposed that there are three concealed neuroanatomical images in the Separation of Light from Darkness, the first panel in the Genesis series.
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