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THE SISTINE CHAPEL
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Introduction
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
His life as an architect, artist, philosopher etc
The Sistine Chapel
Location
The relation between Michelangelo and the Christian Church
The Masterpiece
Timeline
Visitors
The afterlife of Michelangelo
Conclusions
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Thesis Argumentation
From all the great work of Michelangelo I chose the Sistine Chapel since it is one of the great
works not only because of the beauty, but as well because of the time it took to finish, the bid
dimension of this work, the challenge of a sculptor artist to dare creating such a masterpiecewhich was not related to his work.
The Sistine Chapel is worth to be studied because of the art used on it, the figures which were
unknown for that period and the challenge to paint inside a Chapel nude figures, which brought
many discussions and protests.
Being the Sistine Chapel a masterpiece created by only one artist is another reason why everyone
should be interested on it.
Introduction
Michelangelo is one of the most known and great artists of all times; his name has been always
related with the word masterpiece. He was born on March 6, 1475 and died on February 18,
1564.
At age of 13 Michelangelo started to apprentice at the workshop of the painter Domenico
Ghirlandaio and after one year of studying the art of fresco, he started studying sculpture in the
Medici gardens and he was shortly noticed by Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnificent who later
invited him into his household. During his visit there he became acquainted with humanists such
as Marsilo Ficino and the poet Angelo Poliziano. 1
A unexpected interest on human anatomy made him ask permission to study corpses, which was
strictly forbidden by the Church; very soon he was obliged to abandon this activity since hestarted facing health problems.
1http://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.html
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By the age of 16, Michelangelo produced two relief sculptures, the Battle of the Centaurs and the
Madonna of the Stairs. This showed clearly that he had started to differentiate from others by
achieving a personal style.
In 1942, Lorenzo the Magnificent died, so Michelangelo went to Rome. Soon after his arrival he
produced the first large-scale sculpture Bacchus which was a pagan sculpture. At the same time
he did the Marble Pieta. In the Marble Pieta is shown the youthful Mary seated majestically
holding the dead Christ across her lap. Instead of revealing extreme grief, Mary is restrained and
her expression is one of resignation.
The marble was placed in Saint Peter, and the rumors were saying that it was Christoforo Solari
the artist that made it, so that night Michelangelo took a hammer and a chisel and placed the
inscription MICHEL ANGELUS BONAROTUS FLORENT FACIBAT (Michelangelo
Buonarroti, Florentine made this); the inscription was with capital letters and was placed across
Marys breast and this is the only work ever signed by Michelangelo.
After his return to Florence he produced his giant marble David, who was used by him as a
model of heroic courage related to the latest difficult period that Florence was facing. The
message that he wanted to pass to people was that the inner spiritual strength can be more
effective that arms; the faith in God enabled David to overcome the Israels enemies using a
mere sling, which is as well the only element in the composition which makes us identify the
figure of David.
David was represented as an athletic character, ready to fight, which is shown on his worried
look and in his right hand a stone. As I mentioned above the creation of David came as a result
of the difficulties of that period and Michelangelo wanted the people to start taking
responsibilities and commit to accomplish their duties.
David was the sculpture that made Michelangelo surpass not only all the modern artists but alsothe Greek and Romans, since it was a sculpture which had both beauty and meaning.
While working with David, Michelangelo started working on a mural, the Battle of Cascina
which would be placed at the Sala dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio. The assignment was
given to other artists as well but neither of them managed to finish it; what Michelangelo did is
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to create different figures nude or dressed in many positions, which will then be used as well to
his next major project The Sistine Chapel.
3 year after finishing the Last Judgment, Michelangelo met a very strong and with high influence
woman Vittoria Colona and a very deep friendship, some can say deep love developed. She was
his inspiration for his finest lyric poems which described admiration and devotion to a superior
woman. Later on his poems changed to a more passionate style.
Michelangelo wrote many poems in the 1530s and 1540s. The earlier poems are on the theme of
Neoplatonic love (belief that the soul comes from a single undivided source to which it can unite
again) and are full of logical contradictions and intricate images. The later poems are Christian.
Their mood is penitent (being sorrow and regretful); and they are written in a simple, direct style.
2
Michelangelo greatest achievement as an architect was the St. Peters Basilica, where he was the
chief architect in 1546. The initial plan was designed by Donato Bramante but until the end it
was constructed according to Michelangelo idea. He was 70 years old when he accepted this
assignment; although he had a great pressure from the Pope to accept the assignment he did it
because he considered it as his duty and mission to God and he didnt accept any payment for the
job done.
At the last years of life he worked on his last sculptures, one of which was Pieta, which was
carved for his own tomb. Once finished, he didnt like it and destroyed it with a hammer
breaking off a leg and an arm from the figure of Christ and one hand from the figure of Virgins
Mary.
2http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ma-Mo/Michelangelo.html
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The Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel is located within the Vatican Museums in Rome, Italy.
On April 1508 Michelangelo was contacted to start a new job, which had nothing to do with
sculpture, but with painting; Michelangelo refused the project but the Pope Julius II forced him
to accept the assignment.
The ceiling is about 40 meters long by 13 meters wide. These numbers are rounded off just a tad,
but don't detract from the fact that Michelangelo painted well over 460 m of frescoes.3
Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high
up near the top of the windows. He lay on this scaffolding while he painted.4
Between the years 1508-1512 Michelangelo painted almost 300 figures on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel, which are the greatest images of all the time.5
Understanding the major work, he asked for the assistance of Giuliano Bugardini, Aristotele da
Sangallo and Francesco Granacci and many labors, which after continuous disagreements he
fired and took the entire responsibility on him.
He removed all the work done with his assistants and started from the beginning; he was not
allowing anyone to see his work but the Pope. Everyone was pressuring him to disclose it, so he
made it available for everyone before the official finish.
The effect of this masterpiece was enormous; many of the artists of that time were clearly
influenced by the style of Michelangelo.
Working so rigorously on the project, affect him physically and emotionally; it was impossible
for his friends to meet him and he recall that although he was only 37 years at time, he was
looking like an old man.
3http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htm4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel5http://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.html
http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapelhttp://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.htmlhttp://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapelhttp://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.html8/6/2019 The Sistine Chapel (2)
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The Sistine ceiling is divided in nine scenes which include nine stories from the Genesis; it starts
with God separating Light from Darkness, the creation of Adam and Eve, the temptation of
Adam and Eve and even the Flood.
The scenes are painted in reverse order from the altar to the entrance; the corners of the ceiling
are decorated by ignudi or male nudes which for the time that they were painted were very
controversial.
In total, Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel includes:6
9 scenes from Genesis
4 corner pendentives
4 pairs of bronze nudes above the pendentives
8 triangular spandrels with pairs of bronze nudes
7 prophets (4 major: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel;
and 3 minor: Zechariah, Joel and Jonah)
5 sibyls
20 ignudi
10 medallions
After Michelangelo had finished his work on the Sistine Chapel he wrote a poem of his agony
during the painting of this Sistine Chapel. 7
I've got myself a goiter from this strain,
As water gives the cats in Lombardy
Or maybe it is in some other country;
My belly's pushed by force beneath my chin.
6http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-sistine-chapel
7http://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.html
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-sistine-chapelhttp://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.htmlhttp://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-sistine-chapelhttp://www.svcc.edu/academics/classes/murray/Ezine/sistine.html8/6/2019 The Sistine Chapel (2)
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My beard toward Heaven, I feel the back of my brain
Upon my neck, I grow the breast of a Harpy;
My brush, above my face continually,
Makes a splendid floor by dripping down.
My Lins have penetrated to my paunch,
My rump's a crupper, as a counterweight,
And pointless the unseeing steps I go.
In front of me my skin is being stretched
While it folds up behind and forms a knot,
And I am bending like a Syrian bow.
And judgment, hence must grow,
Borne in mind, peculiar and untrue;
You cannot shoot well when the gun's askew.
John, come to the rescue
Of my dead painting now, and of my honor;
I'm not in a good place, and I'm no painter.
The Last Judgment is located in the Sistine Chapel, above the altar. It took six years to
complete. Michelangelo began working on it three decades after finishing the ceiling of the
Chapel.8
8http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.html
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The painting depicts the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse, as Michelangelo imagines
it. In contrast to the other frescoes in the Chapel, the figures used at the Last judgment are
different, with more muscles and they look tortured.
The last judgment was the most disputed project of Michelangelo since he was accused of
immorality, having included naked figures with their genitals in evidence; it was organized even
an anti-campaign from Cardinal Carafa against the fresco fro Michelangelo to remove the
frescoes. Later on the genitals on the fresco were covered by another artist Daniele da Volterra
who took the nickname the breeches painter. 9
The afterlife
Michelangelo Buonarroti died, on February 18th, 1564, after a "slow fever." In his will he left
only three sentences his soul to God, his body to the earth, and his material possessions to his
nearest relations10
Talking about material possessions there wasnt too much left since he had burned great part of
his work.
After his death the work at St.Peters continued and the concept he had on the baroque style was
completed.
His work is of a great architectural worth and monetary value, because it attracts million of
visitors every year who pay to see or take pictures of his masterpieces.
Conclusions
9http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.html10http://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.html
http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.htmlhttp://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.htmlhttp://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.htmlhttp://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.htmlhttp://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.htmlhttp://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.html8/6/2019 The Sistine Chapel (2)
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Michelangelo is considered as the genius of marble and paint even after so many years after his
death. His work has been attacked but he still remains one of the most great painters, sculptors
and architects of all times.
His influence on many artists of the Renaissance was major. Michelangelo is the first artist for
whom two great writers such as Condivi and Visari wrote the biography during his lifetime.
Although his work was considered to be too immoral for the Church, he was committed from
the Pope to work on his greatest works.
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