Sistine Chapel ceiling
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The Sistine Chapel ceiling in Vatican City was painted by Michelangelo during the Italian Renaissance between 1508 and 1512. There are many elements to the ceiling; it has nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, seven Old Testament prophets; five sibyls, as well as four corners and eight triangular areas also containing scenes. Surprisingly, the Sistine ceiling features much pagan imagery from Greek and Roman antiquity, such as the sibyls who are not a part of the Christian religion. The seven prophets and five sibyls appear in the part of the ceiling which was originally planned for the twelve apostles, but Michelangelo changed the original design. Perhaps the most famous image on the ceiling is the Creation of Adam.
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[edit] History
Michelangelo was commissioned in 1505 by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He was reluctant to take on the work because he considered himself a sculptor, not a painter. The pope was adamant, leaving Michelangelo no choice but to accept the commission. However, a war with the French broke out, diverting the pope's attention, and Michelangelo fled from Rome to continue sculpting. In 1508 the pope returned to Rome victorious and summoned Michelangelo to return and begin work on the ceiling. He spent the next 4 years filling the ceiling with frescoes illustrating stories from Genesis, the narratives for which are flanked by the prophets, sybils, ignudi, pendentives, and ancestors of Christ. The project was harmful to his health; he suffered neck and back problems the rest of his life from looking up while painting (contrary to popular belief he was standing, not lying on his back). He also encountered throat and vision problems from the drippings of the wet plaster onto his face. At Michelangelo's behest, a design which had originally called for a dozen figures eventually comprised some three hundred. The frescoes were completed by 1512.
[edit] The method
In order to reach the chapel's ceiling, Michelangelo designed his own scaffold, a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. He stood on this scaffolding while he painted. When the first layer of plaster began to grow mold because it was too wet, Michelangelo had to remove it and start again. He then tried a new mixture of plaster, called intonaco, created by one of his assistants, Jacopo l'Indaco. This resisted mold, and entered the Italian building tradition and is still in use today.
It was customary for fresco painters to use a full-sized detailed drawing, a cartoon, to transfer a design onto a plaster surface--many frescoes show little holes made with a stiletto, outlining the figures. Here Michelangelo broke with convention; once confident in the application of fresco, he drew directly onto the ceiling. We see his energetic sweeping outlines scraped into some of the surfaces, while on others a grid is evident, indicating that he enlarged directly onto the ceiling from a small drawing.
The fresco technique was tricky. If the artist worked onto completely dry plaster, then every brushstroke sank in immediately. It was a meticulous undertaking because the pigment could not be easily manipulated. Michelangelo painted onto damp plaster using a wash technique to apply broad areas of colour, then as the surface became drier, he revisited these areas with a more linear approach, adding shade and detail with a variety of brushes. For some textured surfaces, such as facial hair and woodgrain, he used a broad brush with bristles as sparse as a comb.
Altogether, his techniques show the skill that one would expect of Ghirlandaio's greatest pupil. He employed all the finest workshop methods, the newest innovations and a diversity of brushwork and breadth of skill of which the meticulous and accurate Ghirlandaio was not capable. Because he was painting a fresco on fresh plaster, the plaster was laid in a new section every day, called a giornata. At the beginning of each session, the edges would be scraped away and a new area laid down. This is more apparent in the Last Judgement than on the ceiling.
The bright colours and broad, cleanly-defined outlines make each subject easily visible from the floor. Despite the height of the ceiling (over twenty meters), the proportions of the Creation of Man are such that when standing beneath it, it appears as if the viewer could simply raise a finger and meet those of God and Adam. The colours, which now appear so fresh and spring-like with pale pink, apple green, vivid yellow and sky blue against a background of warm pearly grey, were so discoloured by candlesmoke as to make the pictures seem dark and murky. The long restoration (1981 through 1994) has removed the filter of grime to reveal the full quality of the paintings again.
[edit] Nine scenes from the Book of Genesis
Michelangelo depicted nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Five of these are Creation stories. Closest to the door of the chapel is the drunkenness of Noah; God separating light from darkness is at the opposite end, closest to the altar. They were painted in this order, with Michelangelo said to have painted the last scene, the separation of light and darkness, in only one day. When viewing the frescoes in the chronological order of their creation, the increased freedom of composing and handling is apparent. They are designed to all appear the right way up when viewed from the sanctuary. This is the order of the scenes from the altar towards the main entrance:
- The Separation of Light and Dark
- The Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Planets
- The Separation of Land and Water
- The Creation of Adam
- The Creation of Eve
- The Temptation and Expulsion
- The Sacrifice of Noah
- The Flood
- Drunkenness of Noah
God separates light from darkness |
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Creation detail |
The sacrifice of Noah |
[edit] The Ignudi
The Ignudi (singular: ignudo; from the Italian adjective nudo, meaning “naked”) are the 20 athletic, nude male figures that Michelangelo painted at the four corners of the five smaller scenes of Creation. Because they were not relevant to the themes of the piece, Michelangelo’s ignudi outraged several pontiffs. [citation needed]
Most of the figures are surrounded by a huge garland of oak leaves, and clustered about them are thousands of acorns resembling the penis, or "prickhead", in Tuscan slang (testa di cazzo). The most likely reason for their abundance is that Pope Julius II, who commissioned the work, was of the della Rovere family ("of the Oak"): they function as, perhaps, Michelangelo's allusion to his patron.
There are many speculations about the meaning of the ignudi, none of them definitive. Considering that Michelangelo regularly employed male models even for his female figures, they could represent Michelangelo’s concept of the human potential for perfection. Again, this could be interpreted through the classical Greek view that “the man is the measure of all things”. [citation needed]
[edit] Seven prophets
Seven prophets from the Old Testament were depicted on the ceiling, with Zechariah on the entrance end, Jonah on the chapel end, Joel, Ezechiel and Jeremiah on one of the long sides; and Isaiah and Daniel on the other. The four major prophets Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah are diagonally opposite each other in that order from the chapel end towards the entrance, while the other three are seen as minor prophets. The sibyls are arranged between the prophets. Each of the prophets is identified by name, painted beneath them as if incised on a coloured marble panel, as transcribed here in brackets.
The seven prophets shown are:
- Daniel (DANIEL)
- Ezekiel (EZECHIEL)
- Isaiah (ESAIAS)
- Jeremiah (HIEREMIAS)
- Joel (IOEL)
- Jonah (IONAS) - on the opposite end to Zechariah
- Zechariah (ZACHERIAS) - the first painting Michelangelo did, on the entrance end of the chapel
[edit] Five sibyls
The sibyls are prophetic women who were resident at shrines or temples throughout the Classical World. The five depicted here are each said to have prophesied the birth of Christ. Three of the sibyls (Libyan, Cumaean and Delphican) are on one side, separated by the prophets Daniel and Isaiah. The remaining sibyls (Erythraean and Persian) are on the other side, with the prophet Ezechiel between them. Each sibyl is identified by her locality, which is painted on a panel below the picture as shown in the brackets here.
The sibyls are:
- Delphic Sibyl. (DELPHICA)
- Libyan Sibyl (LIBICA)
- Persian Sibyl (PERSICHA)
- Cumaean Sibyl. (CVMAEA)
- Erythraean Sibyl. (ERITHRAEA)
[edit] Pendentives
The corners or "Pendentives" show scenes which may relate to the people of Israel being saved, such as David slaying the Philistine Goliath, Judith cutting the head off Holofernes, Haman punished for plotting against the Jews, and Moses erecting the bronze serpent:
- Haman's punishment
- The Brazen serpent
- David and Goliath
- Judith and Holofernes
Haman's punishment |
[edit] The ancestors of Christ
There are eight triangular areas, or "webs", above the arched windows of the chapel, four on each side. They were painted with scenes:
- Baby Solomon
- Parents of future King Jesse
- Baby Roboam with Solomon
- Asa (baby)
- Ozias (baby)
- Ezekias (baby)
- Zorobabel (baby)
- Josiah (baby)
Parents of future King Jesse |
[edit] Other
In addition, there were many minor figures around the chapel ceiling; each of the eight triangular areas have two orangish figures sitting on top of them, sixteen in all. There are ten painted columns on each of the long sides, two on each short side, each one having two white nude young male figures, making a total of 48 in all. Other smaller figures appear behind the prophets and sibyls. Further figures were painted lower down holding the tablets which have the prophets' and sibyls' names on them.
[edit] Quotation
[edit] A close-up view
In an article that appeared in the March 5, 2006 Sunday Times of London ("The Michelangelo Code"), art critic and television producer Waldemar Januszczak wrote that when the Sistine Chapel ceiling was recently cleaned, he "was able to persuade the man at the Vatican who was in charge of Japanese TV access to let me climb the scaffold while the cleaning was in progress.
"I sneaked up there a few times. And under the bright, unforgiving lights of television, I was able to encounter the real Michelangelo. I was so close to him I could see the bristles from his brushes caught in the paint; and the mucky thumbprints he’d left along his margins.
"The first thing that impressed me was his speed. Michelangelo worked at Schumacher pace. Adam’s famous little penis was captured with a single brushstroke: a flick of the wrist, and the first man had his manhood. I also enjoyed his sense of humour, which, from close up, turned out to be refreshingly puerile. If you look closely at the angels who attend the scary prophetess on the Sistine ceiling known as the Cumaean Sibyl, you will see that one of them has stuck his thumb between his fingers in that mysteriously obscene gesture that visiting fans are still treated to today at Italian football matches. It means something along the lines of: how would you like this inserted into your rectum, ragazzo?"
[edit] External links
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