The Effects of Diseases, Drugs, and Chemicals on the Creativity and Productivity of Famous Sculptors, Classic Painters, Classic Music Composers, and Authors

Continued

MICHELANGELO

A Brilliant Sculptor and Painter Who Projected His Own Illnesses Into His Sculpture and Paintings

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) was born in March 1475 in Caprese, Tuscany. He lived and worked for nearly a century and worked continuously until 6 days before his death. He was considered to be a Renaissance man. He depicted a number of his mental and physical conditions in his paintings and sculpture, as did subsequent painters hundreds of years later.

Michelangelo developed various illnesses during his lifetime. Michelangelo's right knee was swollen and deformed by gout, which is depicted in a fresco by Raphael (Figure 3, A and B). This painting is present in the Vatican and was commissioned by Pope Julius II when Michelangelo was known to be on site at the Vatican completing his paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo is shown with a gouty, deformed right knee.⁷ Michelangelo suffered from gout caused by elevated serum uric acid, and his stone formation may have been urate urolithiasis.

Michelangelo stated that he had kidney and urinary bladder calculi throughout his life. In 1549, he had an episode of anuria, which was followed by the passing of gravel and stone fragments. In Michelangelo's case, gout might have explained the gravel in his urine. Plumbism should be considered as a possible cause for gout. Obsessed with his work, Michelangelo would go for days on a diet of bread and wine. At that time, wine was processed in lead containers. He might also have been exposed to lead-based paints. The fruit acids of wine, chiefly tartaric contained in crocks, are excellent solvents of lead in crocks coated with lead glaze. The wine thus contained high levels of lead. Lead injures the kidneys, inhibiting the excretion of uric acid and resulting in increased serum uric acid and gout. If a modern clinical chemistry laboratory had existed during Michelangelo's lifetime, his serum uric acid might have been found to be elevated. His urine might have contained excessive uric acid with uric acid calculi, as well as excessive lead levels. A modern clinical chemistry laboratory detects and quantitates serum uric acid with the uricase procedure. Uric acid urinary calculi are associated with needlelike, nonbirefringent crystals in the urine. Thus, Michelangelo may have suffered from saturnine gout.

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Michelangelo also suffered from a number of illnesses besides gout. It was also known that he suffered from depression. He exhibited the signs and symptoms of a bipolar manic-depressive illness. He painted more than 400 figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel from 1508 to 1512. His paintings mirror his depression. Features of melancholy appear in the painting of Jeremiah in the Sistine Chapel. Modern medicine has confirmed that manic-depressive illness and creativity tend to run in certain families. Studies of twins provide strong evidence for the heritability of manic-depressive illness. If an identical twin has manic-depressive illness, the other twin has a 70% to 100% chance of also having the disease; if the other twin is fraternal, the chances are considerably lower (approximately 20%). A review of identical twins reared apart from birth, in which at least one of the twins had been diagnosed as manic-depressive, found that in two-thirds or more of the cases the sets were concordant for the illness. If lithium carbonate had been available in the 16th century, it might have helped Michelangelo's depression if he suffered from a bipolar illness, and a clinical chemistry laboratory could have monitored serum lithium levels.

Michelangelo dissected numerous human bodies, beginning at the age of 18 years. The dissections occurred in the monastery of Santo Spirato in Florence, where the corpses originated from various hospitals. The anatomic accuracy of his figures is due to his dissection and his observations. In the painting The Creation of Adam (Figure 4 ) in the Sistine Chapel, an irregular circular structure appears surrounding God and the angels. One interpretation of the irregular circular structure is compatible with the shape of the human brain.⁸ However, others disagree and believe the circular structure surrounding God and the angels represents the human heart. At the left of the circle there is a cleavage, possibly separating the right and left ventricles. At the top right is a tubular structure, which may represent the aorta exiting from the left ventricle. Thus, the speculation persists that if it represents a brain, it suggests that God is giving Adam an intellect or a soul. If it is a representation of a heart, God is initiating in Adam the beginning of a cardiovascular system and life, and is thereby giving Adam the “spark of life.”

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Last updated: 12/05

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