An Artist and an Anatomist

When I think of the word Renaissance, one of the first names that comes to my mind is Michelangelo, a name that nowadays is practically "synonymous with the word, 'masterpiece.'"

To me, what makes Michelangelo's work so striking is his beauty and exactness in replicating the human body. The brawny shoulders, legs, and buttocks of David are smooth and flawless. Michelangelo paid such close attention to detail that even the veins on David's hands are anatomically accurate. Raw human emotion emanates from the mother Mary's facial expressions as she holds her crucified son in the Pieta. Only Michelangelo could make marble seem that alive.

How could human hands create art work that was so exact in resembling the body. Unbeknownst to most, Michelangelo was not only an artist, but also an anatomist. He began studying anatomy in the Garden of San Marco. After years of this, he resulted to studying actual corpses (which was forbidden by the Church, mind you.) Michelangelo used pure science to influence his artwork. By studying anatomy and the human body, this master sculptor and painter idealized what the Renaissance was truly all about. This time period pushed the bounds of science and art. Michelangelo was relating the two and recognized that science within itself is an art form. By studying anatomy, he recognized the importance and the beauty and the value that was now being place on the human body and human life. Through science, Michelangelo was better able to portray the new ideal of the "Renaissance Man" in his artwork.

In my own life, I have been able to see personally how science influences art. I am not a science person by any sense of the word, but when I joined the Dance major program here at BYU, I found myself being required to take science classes such as Human Anatomy and Kinesiology. At first I grumbled and complained. Anatomy was just too hard. But I soon started to see the value this knowledge gave me as a dancer. I was able to use the study of bone and muscle structure to better visualize the way my body moved in dance. I learned that this muscle connected to that muscle, so by stretching this muscle, I would indirectly be strengthening the other. These connections were what made me realize the value of science in my own art form. I too, was able to become artist, and anatomist.