Neoplatonic Symbolism by Michelangelo in Sistine Chapel’s Separation of Light from Darkness

Upon discovery of Michelangelo’s concealed neuroanatomical images in “Separation of Light from Darkness,” by Suk and Tamargo in 2010, there remained a compelling need to investigate in greater detail the reasoning behind Michelangelo’s depiction of imagery of the brain, brainstem, spinal cord, eyeballs and optic nerves in the Sistine Chapel. At cursory glance, “Separation of Light from Darkness” depicts God’s first act of Genesis 1:3-5 (King James Bible), in which he creates light and separates it from the darkness, enveloping the world he has just created. It is a seemingly simple, conspicuous act, but careful analysis reveals that Michelangelo used his artistic, academic, and poetic genius to embed layers of symbolic meanings. The authors believe that the great artist infused a visual metaphor of a scene from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” in Book VII of The Republik (~380BC) to represent his key ideologies in Neoplatonism and pious convictions Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel during the flourishing period of High Renaissance (~1475–1527). High Renaissance art followed and reflected the period of ‘rebirth’ in which philosophy, literature, art, and sciences drew on ancient knowledge from Classical Antiquity, principally the ancient Greeks. The Renaissance was a period of rapid growth where people applied new found knowledge to the Classical Greek studies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (from about the 4th to 3rd century BC). One of the most influential ancient philosophers was Plato (~428-348 BC) whose teachings propagated throughout Athens for about two centuries around his lifetime, through his established school, the Academy. His philosophy of Neoplatonism was resurrected by an Italian baron, Cosimo I de Medici who employed Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) to lead the Florentine Platonic Academy (of which Michelangelo was a student) and translate all of Plato’s writings into Latin Through analysis of Michelangelo’s paintings, his preliminary sketches, poems, written letters, and the political and religious context of his time, the authors attempt to provide key evidence to reveal the meaning and symbolism behind Michelangelo’s concealed anatomic representations