All of Rome waited in expectation. For months, Michelangelo Buonarroti had worked in secret. Curiosity was aflame. What had he accomplished? Had he succeeded in transferring his skill as a sculptor to work with fresco (paint in plaster)?
Pope Julius II, as impatient as ever, demanded that Michelangelo unveil the ceiling of the Sistine chapel although it was far from done. High on the scaffolding, his face just inches from the ceiling, paint dripping into his eyes, Michelangelo had completed only the central vault.
Julius prevailed. Down came the scaffold, erected with such labor. On this day, November 1, 1509, the public surged into the chapel to see what Michelangelo had wrought.
Painters could only gape in astonishment. Michelangelo, who had earlier revolutionized sculpture, now did the same with painting. His nine groups of stories from Genesis stole the breath of contemporaries. He made his figures seem to be in perspective and distributed them across the vault with an astonishing inner rhythm to tell the stories of creation, the fall of man, and sacred history. (Years later, he added the Last Judgment to the wall behind the altar.) His rivals immediately began to ape his techniques.
Michelangelo infused much of his art with Christian feeling. An admirer of the reformer Savonarola, his sonnets show that he genuinely desired to know God and considered himself unworthy of him:
O my dear God, matched with the much I owe
All that I am were no real recompense:
Paying a debt is not munificence.
Although he had flaws of temper, Michelangelo’s art and life reveal an individual concerned for God’s glory. A contemporary wrote, “Buonarroti, having lived for ninety years, there was never found through all that time anyone who could with right and justice impute to him a stain or any ugliness of manners.”
However, he found dealing with Pope Julius a strain. Once when Michelangelo threatened to leave Rome, Julius, in a fury, said he would have him flung from the scaffold. Michelangelo immediately took it down and refused to add the gold leaf and touch-ups that Julius wanted.
The Background
The Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings have come to epitomize the art of the High Renaissance, a period generally considered to have spanned the decades between 1490 and 1530. During these years, the Italian masters produced a wealth of stunning masterpieces in the form of paintings, drawings, sculptures, buildings, and writings. Informed by the aesthetic ideals of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, the artists of the High Renaissance developed the linear perspective, naturalistic forms, and use of light that had been introduced by their forerunners. At the heart of their work was beauty. More specifically, the heavenly beauty associated with the divine. In this way, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael created harmonious, transcendent, and emotive masterpieces that epitomize the human endeavor to ascend to new spiritual heights.
Some of the finest products of the High Renaissance were the result of a fierce rivalry that developed between two of its leading artists: Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Competing for both commissions and prestige, the two Florentines constantly strove to outdo one another, creating ever more innovative and extravagant artwork in the attempt. These masterpieces would go on to influence another highly important artist, Raphael, who would copy the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo to improve his own skills.
Another key player in the High Renaissance was Pope Julius II, an art enthusiast whose private collection became the foundation of the Vatican museums. Although a questionable religious leader, Julius was an international tour de force, who systematically expanded the Papacy’s sphere of influence with a range of ruthless military and economic strategies. Like many notable leaders, from Napoleon to Hitler, Julius wanted to redefine European culture and make his own city its centre. He therefore invited many of the great Florentine masters to move to Rome, where he set about transforming the Vatican into a paradigm of artistic achievement.
The Chapel
Housed within the large complex of buildings that make up the Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel is not only the state’s most popular tourist attraction, but also an important place for ecclesiastical affairs. Built in the 1470s and named after Pope Sixtus IV (link to authoritative source), the chapel is where the cardinals gather to elect a new pope after the death, or abdication, of the previous leader. Every day during their deliberations, black smoke is emitted from a chimney in the chapel roof, until they decide upon a new pope, at which point white smoke is sent up.
The chapel was supposedly built using the same dimensions as Solomon’s temple, an ancient place of worship built in Jerusalem over 10,000 years ago. It is just over 40m by 13m, with its vaulted ceiling reaching 20.7m in height. Tall windows let in streams of light to illuminate the splendid decorations, which were originally far simpler than the current paintings. Painted by no less impressive artists, among whom were Botticelli and Rosselli, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was originally designed to reflect the night sky, painted dark blue and studded with gilt stars. Although no doubt attractive, the original paintings were completely replaced when Michelangelo came to create his magnum opus.
Painting the Ceiling
Michelangelo had first come to Rome to work on the Pope’s tomb and when Julius asked him to change projects to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the artist was far from happy. He had invested much time and effort in the tomb, and what’s more, he had no experience at all working with frescoes. He was a sculptor, not a painter, and Michelangelo felt his talents would be wasted working on a ceiling rather than the Pope’s monumental tomb. Finally, he begrudgingly agreed to take on the commission.
Over the following years, the artist did not become any more optimistic about his new project. He frequently complained to his friends about the physical discomfort he endured, craning his neck to look up at his work, and having paint constantly dripping onto his face. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo did not paint lying down but instead by standing upright on a scaffold and reaching his paintbrush above his head. The artist had designed and built the structure himself, after another architect attempted to install a support suspended from ropes. Michelangelo immediately put an end to this plan, outraged at the thought that holes would have to be drilled into his ceiling.
Sistine Chapel Ceiling Layout
Michelangelo’s original commission was simply to paint the twelve apostles on the pendentives in the corners of the chapel. Unhappy first with being sidetracked from his preferred project, and now with having his work prescribed to him, the artist demanded complete artistic control. He designed a series of paintings that went far beyond his initial brief.
Running along the centre of the ceiling would be nine paintings showing stories from Genesis: the creation of the world; the creation of mankind; man’s fall from grace and subsequent suffering. The pendentives would show not the twelve apostles, but twelve prophetic figures, each of whom had foretold the arrival of the saviour. They were to be accompanied by four important biblical scenes featuring Moses, Esther, David and Judith.
Michelangelo also decorated much of the wall space, often depicting human figures who were not sufficiently holy to warrant a spot on the ceiling itself, but who still played a crucial role in the religious narrative he wanted to tell. Among these are the ancestors of Christ and the past popes. Most famous of all is his epic The Last Judgement, a later addition to the Sistine Chapel which stands behind the altar to remind (or warn) worshippers of what awaits. All in all, within the confines of a single room, Michelangelo painted a staggering 5000 square feet of frescoes.
The Paintings
The paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are not only a significant milestone in the history of art, but also mark a turning point within Michelangelo’s own oeuvre. The artist’s style developed during the years he spent working on the frescoes. His earlier paintings show the influence of his work with marble, their more formal structures and sculptural figures, whereas by his later works, Michelangelo had adopted the Mannerist feature of less lifelike, more experimental forms. The Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings thus help to illustrate the many competing and coalescing styles of the Renaissance.
Without a doubt the most iconic image in Michelangelo’s masterpiece is The Creation of Adam, which shows God reaching out to touch the hand of Adam, capturing the very beginnings of humanity. Such scenes had been portrayed countless times by other artists, and scholars have shown that much of the design was based on Jacopo della Quercia’s reliefs at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. Unlike previous depictions, however, which had portrayed God as a detached, static and inaccessible entity, Michelangelo chose to present a vivid, dynamic and powerful figure physically engaged in the creation of the world.
In contrast to The Creation of Adam is The Flood, another one of the central panels on the ceiling. While the former painting focuses almost exclusively on the two monumental characters of Adam and God, the latter is packed with lots of smaller characters, engaged in a range of complex narratives. Using the plains of water, land and sky, Michelangelo separates the different elements of the flood story, showing humans building shelter, climbing a mountain, being drowned and, more hopefully, building the ark. The painting literally works on two levels, as up close the viewer can ‘read’ the story and work out the meaning behind the catastrophic deluge, while from far down on the ground, all we can really see is the chaos and confusion of the disaster.
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Bibliography:
- Cross, F. L., editor. “Michelangelo.” The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Janson, H. W. History of Art. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1969.
- Symonds, John Addington. The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti. New York: Modern Library, 1928.
- Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
