Michelangelo, the Last Judgment fresco, Saint Bartholomew and the Golden Ratio

Art and anatomy were particularly closely intertwined during the Renaissance period and numerous painters and sculptors expressed themselves in both fields. Among them was Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), who is renowned for having produced some of the most famous of all works of art, the frescoes on the ceiling and on the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Recently, a unique association was discovered between one of Michelangelo's most celebrated works (The Creation of Adam fresco) and the Divine Proportion/Golden Ratio (GR) (1.6). The GR can be found not only in natural phenomena but also in a variety of human-made objects and works of art. Here, using Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software, we present mathematical evidence that Michelangelo also used the GR when he painted Saint Bartholomew in the fresco of The Last Judgment, which is on the wall behind the altar. This discovery will add a new dimension to understanding the great works of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Clin. Anat. 28:967-971, 2015. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.