MICHELANGELO`S "DAVID" HAS AN ANATOMY FLAW
Baku, August 3 (AZERTAC). An anatomy professor yesterday gave Michelangelo an A-plus for his masterpiece David, despite one small flaw: a missing muscle in the statue`s back. University of Florence anatomy professor Massimo Gulisano, working with haematology professor Pietro Bernabei, said their measurements of the statue also debunked long-held notions that the 4.1m-high hunk of marble was out of proportion.
"Some say the feet, the hands are out of proportion. It`s not true," Professor Gulisano said during a two-day conference in Florence of art historians, restorers and scientists to mark the 500th anniversary of the statue`s unveiling. "Michelangelo knew anatomy very well. There was only one error. There was a hollow where there should have been a muscle on the right side of the back."
But Michelangelo, who learned anatomy by dissecting cadavers, was aware of the flaw, Professor Gulisano added, writing in a letter that a defect in the marble block forced him to leave out that muscle.
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