A Brain Hidden in the Ferrara Cathedral: A Novel Interpretation of a Renaissance Masterpiece

Abstract

The aim of present report was to briefly review the history of the anatomical studies during the Italian Renaissance and to outline their relationship to the figurative arts, focusing, in particular, on neuroanatomical studies that have been at the center of the medical and philosophical debate from the 14th to 16th centuries. Therefore, we have presented the interpretation of different Renaissance masterpieces for which some references to brain anatomy have been previously reported. We propose a new interpretation, in neuroanatomical key, of the fresco of the universal judgment in the vault of San Giorgio's Cathedral in Ferrara, Italy, painted around the end of the 16th century.

Keywords: Bastianino; Dissection; Neuroanatomy; Renaissance; Universal Judgement.