Michelangelo ‘painted woman with breast cancer’

Michelangelo may have depicted a woman suffering from breast cancer in a famous fresco of a biblical flood on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapelresearchers have suggested.

The naked woman, wearing only a blue headscarf, was brought to life by the Renaissance figure in his iconic fresco known as ‘The Flood’, which was painted between 1508 and 1512.

She is shown holding her ribs just below her chest as men and women with children try to flee from God’s flooding of the earth in a chaotic display of The Bible book of Genesis.

A study published in the medical journal The Breast found that the woman’s breast and the area around her right armpit were deformed in a way consistent with the symptoms of the disease.

Dr. Raffaella Bianucci, an expert in the medical analysis of works of art – known as iconodiagnosis – at the University of Paris-Saclay, said the woman appeared to have an inverted nipple and areola on her right breast, surrounded by lumps and indentations.

Researchers also noticed a bulge under the woman’s armpit, which may represent enlarged lymph nodes.

“The contrast with the right breast is clear. Although slightly elevated on her right arm, there is a significantly retracted and deformed nipple,” the researchers said.

The researchers also believe that the possible representation of breast cancer ties in with the Florentines’ attempts to portray the inevitability of death.

Dr. Bianucci said the finding was particularly important because it could confirm the incidence of cancer as early as 1508 when Michelangelo painted the fresco, a mural technique that involves combing water-based paint into wet plaster.

She said the image also reflected the scientific breakthroughs in identifying diseases at the time. “The Renaissance was not only a period of artistic creativity, it also marked the beginning of surgery,” said Dr. Bianucci to The Telegraph.