Michelangelo’s Height Is Traced From Old Shoes—And He Was Surprisingly Short
Image via QQ7 / Shutterstock.com
Researchers at the Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology, and Bioarchaeology Research Center in Italy have studied three shoes believed to have belonged to famed Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo. And from that, they’ve concluded that he was quite short.
In a study in the journal Anthropologie, researchers detailed that the correlated height to the measurements of the shoes stood at a mere five feet and two inches.
The shoes studied were a pair of leather shoes and one leather slipper displayed at the Casa Buonarroti Museum in Florence, Italy. While there used to be a full pair of the leather slippers, Live Science details that the other half was stolen from the museum in 1873.
All the shoes were found in the artist’s home after his death, and their similar sizing leads researchers to believe that they were all worn by the same person—Michelangelo. However, it has been noted that they may have belonged to another male in the household.
Although 5’2” seems pretty small by today’s standards, Michelangelo wouldn’t have been abnormally short in his time. During the 15th and 16th centuries, this would have been considered the average male height.
This harks back to the description made of the artist The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a 1550 biography work by Giorgio Vasari, as noted by Artnet News.
In it, Vasari states that Michelangelo was of “middle height” and “wide across the shoulders.” Otherwise, the rest of his body was “in good proportion.”
Because his remains have never been exhumed and studied, his physical condition at the time of his passing is still largely mysterious. However, small details like his shoe size and height could play a part in finding some of the missing pieces.
— FAPAB Research Center (@Fapab_center) August 27, 2021
After studying Michelangelo's shoes, researchers in Italy were able to estimate his height—and it's very short: https://t.co/FBLS1vdQm5 pic.twitter.com/ra3MNvBdY2
— Artnet (@artnet) September 3, 2021
[via Artnet, image via QQ7 / Shutterstock.com]
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