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Bianucci said the finding was particularly significant because it may confirm the incidence of cancer as far back as 1508, when Michelangelo painted the fresco – a mural painting technique that daubs water-based paint into wet plaster.

She said the depiction also reflected the scientific breakthroughs in identifying disease in that era. “The Renaissance was not only a period of artistic creativity, it marked the dawn of surgery,” Bianucci said.

Michelangelo was well known for his studies of the human body and had examined and dissected cadavers from a young age.

Previous groundbreaking research showed he also hid anatomical sketches in the robes and faces of his figures in the Sistine Chapel in an attack on the church’s disdain for science.

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The woman at the centre of the latest research was shown in one of nine scenes from the book of Genesis that stretch across the vast ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, located in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City.

“Each woman’s naked breast was carefully examined by our team in order to identify the presence of possible pathological conditions,” Bianucci said.

“The case of The Flood is particularly interesting, especially because it allows multiple levels of interpretation.”

The researchers said Michelangelo might have “had knowledge of healthy breasts of different sizes and morphologies”, and presenting “pathological breast conditions” with a theological meaning may have been his intention.

Michelangelo painted more than 300 figures across the celebrated ceiling, which attracts more than 5 million visitors a year.

Experts have long been fascinated by the accuracy of the artist’s anatomical portrayal as well as his theological interpretation of biblical events.

Researchers have previously identified physical signs of breast cancer, including swelling and skin retraction, in the breast of a woman Michelangelo depicted in his image of Night above the Tomb of Giuliano de Medici in Florence.

The Telegraph, London

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