Did Michelangelo paint a young adult woman with breast cancer in “The Flood” (Sistine Chapel, Rome)?
Andreas G. Nerlich,
Johann C. Dewaal,
Antonio Perciaccante,
Serena Di Cosimo,
Laura Cortesi,
Judith Wimmer,
Simon T. Donell,
Raffaella Bianucci
Affiliations
Andreas G. Nerlich
Institute of Legal Medicine, Department of Forensic Histology, Paleopathology and Mummy Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
Johann C. Dewaal
Breast Center, Dachau, Germany
Antonio Perciaccante
Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Giuliano Isontina, Department of Medicine, “San Giovanni di Dio” Hospital, Gorizia, Italy; Laboratory Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology (LAAB), Paris-Saclay University, Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France
Serena Di Cosimo
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milano, Italy
Laura Cortesi
Modena Hospital University, Modena, Italy
Judith Wimmer
Department of Art and Heritage Conservation, Diocese Linz, Linz, Austria
Simon T. Donell
Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
The Flood is the first pictorial scene that Michelangelo Buonarroti painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. On the right side of the fresco a woman with abnormal breast morphology is presented and the nature of her disease is considered using the Guidelines for Iconodiagnosis. A team of experts covering art history, art expertise, medicine, genetics, and pathology undertook the process and concluded that the pathology shown is probably breast cancer, most likely linked to the symbolic significance of an inevitable death as expressed in the Book of Genesis.
