Michelangelo's divine goitre

Abstract

When all things began, goitre already was—at least if we are to believe in Michelangelo's idea of the 'big bang' painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In his image of the Separation of Light from Darkness (Figure 1), the Creator shows a clear-cut goitre (Figure 2), a remarkable trait that has passed unnoticed for almost five hundred years. Figure 1 The Creator separating light from darkness. Fresco painted in 1512 on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo Buonarroti. (Photograph courtesy of the Vatican Museums) Figure 2 The Creator exhibits a multinodular goitre. (Photograph courtesy of the Vatican Museums)