A little wonder, every day

Angels in the clouds and the sixth-finger myth

Raphael, *The Sistine Madonna*, c. 1512–1513, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden; faithful public-domain reproduction, resized for web. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raphael_-_Sistine_Madonna.jpg

Crop of the blue cloud/sky area in the same public-domain reproduction; used to inspect the angel heads.

Crop showing Pope Sixtus’s hand in the same public-domain reproduction; used to inspect the apparent extra digit.

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Raphael, *The Sistine Madonna*, c. 1512–1513, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden; faithful public-domain reproduction, resized for web. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raphael_-_Sistine_Madonna.jpg

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In Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, numerous angel heads can be made out in the blue sky behind Mary. Another famous detail—the claim that Pope Sixtus has six fingers—is not established fact: on close inspection, the apparent extra digit is part of the palm, and researchers regard the interpretation as disputed. Sixtus’s name alone does not prove that Raphael deliberately encoded the number six in the hand.