Coincidence? I don't think so.
For nearly 500 years, hundreds of millions of people looked at the most famous painting of God ever made, and none of them noticed what was hiding in plain sight.
Then, in 1990, a doctor looked up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and realized that God is wrapped inside a human brain...
The painting is Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, finished around 1512. You know the image even if you don't know its name: God reaching out from the heavens, His finger almost touching Adam's, the spark of life about to leap across the gap.
But look at the shape around God, the swirling red cloak that holds Him and the angels aloft. For five centuries it was seen as just a billowing robe... but in 1990, a physician named Frank Lynn Meshberger published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association arguing that the red shroud is something else entirely: an anatomically precise cross-section of the human brain.
Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
The outline of the cloak traces the outer curve of the brain. A fold in the fabric forms the Sylvian fissure, the deep groove that separates the brain's major lobes. The angel curled beneath God is positioned exactly where the brainstem would be, and the green scarf trailing down becomes the vertebral artery. Even the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm, where the nerves from the eyes cross, fall precisely into place.
This was not a man likely to invent such a thing by accident. Michelangelo had spent his youth secretly dissecting human corpses in a monastery in Florence, studying the body from the inside with an obsessiveness that, by one early account, exceeded that of professional anatomists...
So what did he mean by it?
Meshberger argued that the painting has been misnamed. He suggested it should be called not the Creation of Adam, but the Endowment of Adam. In the Bible, God gives Adam life. But in Michelangelo's fresco, Adam is already alive, his eyes open, his body lifted. What God is reaching across that famous gap to give him is not life. It is intellect. The divine spark of human thought itself, delivered, fittingly, from inside the very organ that produces it.
One of the most looked-at images in the history of the world may contain a message that took half a millennium to be read, hidden by a man who understood both the human body and the human soul better than almost anyone who has ever lived, and who seems to have decided to bury his deepest idea about us where only the most careful eye would ever find it...
If you've never used an ACF canvas, you probably think we make regular canvas products. Something you could find at a stationery shop for less.
That's the problem with photos.
They look like every other canvas you've ever bought.
Daniel Wilson works in acrylics, charcoal and oils on ACF.
To understand why he does, take 5 minutes and read this.
https://t.co/j9vx0qYAKN
This image basically sums up my life right now. ๐
In a world where this exists, I still have to convince artists that ACF has built a canvas that doesn't warp, sag, or tear - and that's just the start of a long list of traditional canvas problems we've solved.
Apparently the hardest sell in the world. Ha ha. ๐
If you don't believe me, read our reviews from artists who tried it themselves and saw through the nonsense:
๐ https://t.co/GPKdb3hfH2
Already an ACF user? Drop your "delusional" review there too. ๐ตโ๐ซ
The pinnacle of a canvas!
ACF Box Board Canvas
The funny thing is, I always have to convince artists to try this product - but only once!
https://t.co/a3595YjSfM
The real test of a surface isn't the artist who's easy to please.
It's the one who isn't.
Nadine Vessy is, in her own words, very critical of her work.
This is what she said after painting on ACF.
"I am more than happy to release it to the public. That is how happy I am."
Artist: https://t.co/g4r2W2EDOO
New to ACF? Nadine's code NdV847b takes 10% off your first order: https://t.co/mI6LeWuKXG
#fineart #artistsofinstagram #painting #artiststudio #paintingcanvas
Built to outlast a government. Or three. Our canvas won't warp, sag or rip โ longer-lasting than the last three tenants of Number 10 put together. Guaranteed no tears.
https://t.co/JgPITVjk6u
I hear this often from customers: They see the advert, buy the canvas, and it sits quietly in the corner of the studio - watching you struggle with a normal canvas... until one day you notice the sharp edge smooth and taught lil canvas patiently waiting its turn...
...and then you send me emails like this:
"Hi, A while back I bought some of your canvases. I've finally gotten around to using one.
They're great. I like that they're smooth enough to enable me to add detail while still having great texture.
Attached is my very amateurish masterpiece. Unfortunately, I can't give credit to the artist who created the original that I used as inspiration, as I couldn't find a name on it.
Regards. Colin"
Colin (unfortunately not on Instagram) will most certainly shop faster from now on! ha ha
https://t.co/omC3YfVx4q
Our mission? To produce stress-free, high-quality products that enhance your art, your experience, and ensure your customer smiles more than you!
Read our reviews here: https://t.co/W9z0jWQfwX
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ 5โญ from Veronica:
โPerfectโ
๐ These framed canvases are fantastic!
The canvas itself is smooth and sturdy to paint on. Great for painting detail!
See why artists are switching: https://t.co/JfCx5HaF1h
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ 4โญ from Victoria:
โThese seem greatโ
๐ These seem great, but I wasnโt quite prepared for how heavy they would be! Iโm not sure how to hang them. There was also a small dent in one frame which may be able to polish out. It couldnโt have happened in transit so must have happened at the factory.
See why artists are switching: https://t.co/TMmjKNorux
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ 5โญ from Sue Scarth:
โAbsolutely brilliant watercolour canvasโ
๐ Absolutely Wonderful canvas to work on with watercolour!!
They stay as tight as a drum, they have a lovely surface and are ready to paint straight onto or by wetting the surface first with water and working wet into wet.
Easy to lift paint out and also to re-work a dried area by gently nudging the paint with the tip of a wet brush.
After the painting was finished I used a wax to seal the watercolour.
I love these new canvases and will be ordering more!!
See why artists are switching: https://t.co/vukS1bUhEZ
Good news for Bob: a cheap canvas rots about as fast as the evidence, so those maps would've vanished right along with them.
Bad news for Bob: ACF PET canvas doesn't disintegrate.
Those locations would still be readable today.
https://t.co/JgPITVjk6u