Did Michelangelo Have Autism?

[RuBert]

May 26, 2004 -- Classic tortured genius: The great artist Michelangelo may have suffered from autism, new research shows. See article here... (http://webcenter.health.webmd.netscape.com/content/article/87/99594.htm?DEST=WebMD_contentSRC_nsmain)

This is a article on WebMd that I thought you all might be interested in. Didn't sound like there was anything wrong with him to me... :cool:

[sculptor]

May 26, 2004 -- Classic tortured genius: The great artist Michelangelo may have suffered from autism, new research shows. See article here... (http://webcenter.health.webmd.netscape.com/content/article/87/99594.htm?DEST=WebMD_contentSRC_nsmain)

This is a article on WebMd that I thought you all might be interested in. Didn't sound like there was anything wrong with him to me... :cool:

...........ethics involved in diagnosing someone without ever having interviewed them aside......there had to be a reason to grasp at diagnosing an obvious celebrity at a distance of 500 years.....
the publication in question states of asperger's syndrom...."involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate and to use imagination. .........
say that again......."to communicate and to use imagination"

and.....were both refering to Michaelangelo Bounaroti---painter, sculptor, financial backbone of his family........?

ok

Who among us does not desplay any symptoms of a diagnosable disorder?
Mental illness-wellness is a multidimentional continuum along which, various parts of peoples habits,personalities,quirks could place them at various times.

name dropping by any means is still cheap and tawdry

[anne (bxl)]

-"Michelangelo's single-minded work routine, unusual lifestyle, limited interests, poor social and communication skills, and various issues of life control appear to be features of high-functioning autism," Arshad concludes.-

Do you really think those words are sufficient to diagnose such a complex disease?? Autism is a rich and wonderful world with very poor research budgets. Scientists would better spend money, time and energy to help living autists (artists?). In 2004.

[RuBert]

It's kind of like the bigger the name the bigger the target. And of course any defense is by him is not possible, and any legal defamation of character issues are gone because he lived so long ago.

But it is in the news right now, right or wrong, and the controversy will probably just made his name bigger. Vincent Van Gogh is the tortured painter and now we are provided a more tortured version of Michelangelo.

[sculptor]

wild guess
most of the people who read the aforementioned cyber-rag already know Buonaroti

I am enamored of the Sybil Oracle at Delphi
In my eye, she's
cream my jeans drop dead geougious

Russ at-least you've got us discussing a master

[fritchie]

I've read a number of biographies of successful artists and others. Michelangelo was farmed out to a wet nurse shortly after birth, partly because it was the thing to do at the time for lower-level patrician families like his and possibly also because his mother was weak following his birth. I think he lived in the country with this peasant family until he was about 5 or 6. Did this affect his socializing with the patricians with whom he later associated? It did introduce him to stonecutting, I believe.

Einstein had great difficulty in school through the equivalent of our high school, and certainly was eccentric in later life, not to say single-minded and driven. I think it’s also been said that he had “learning disorders”.

Rodin couldn’t stay in school as a child, and was shipped to the northwest of France, where his mother’s brother (I believe) ran a school. He left there after only about a year. As for singlemindedness, he worked as a technician in sculpture (ceramic mostly) production until he was about 43, and went to the equivalent of a technical school in Paris after repeatedly being denied admission to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the only real art academy. He notably never was able to produce coherent compositions, but only single figures.

We all know about Vincent van Gogh, whose family had a history of early madness.

Remote diagnosis is in vogue today, partly because it is so easy and popular with doubtful portions of the press (though at least some of this is considered reputable.)

[obseq]

"and.....were both refering to Michaelangelo Bounaroti---painter, sculptor, financial backbone of his family......."


I can't say I buy into the autism diagnosis. Buonoroti aside from his mastery in the visual arts was also an accomplished poet. If any of you have a chance I suggest reading his Complete Poems and Letters. His poetry was understandably focused on his work and his letters to family, employers, and friends did not indicate any excessive social ineptitude.

[sculptorsam]

It's kind of like the bigger the name the bigger the target. And of course any defense is by him is not possible, and any legal defamation of character issues are gone because he lived so long ago.


Would anyone look down on him if he was autistic? Or had a '"tendency" for autism?

Personally, I don't hold in too high esteem these "mental" professionals. It seems all too often they merely elevate the most mediocre tendencies of human nature and call them "normal" or "healthy." Give me an "unhealthy" genius to their "well-adjusted" sheeple any day.

Sam

[jwebb]

Seems to me a rather severe dose of this "high-functioning autism" as described here is a huge boon to a sculptor. I've always envied the single-mindedness with which some focus on their work, compared to my own sloth and susceptibility to distractions. Where can I catch this condition? Almost every great artist I know anythinhg about fits this diagnosis.