Michelangelo

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Michelangelos Sistine Chapel Ceiling

• No one who has not seen the Sistine ceiling can
  have a clear idea of what a human being can
  achieve. (Goethe)

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The Sistine ChapelLa Capella Sistina

• EXTERIOR
• Chapel decoration was started by Pope Sixtus in
  1473
• Ceiling had been frescoed earlier with a
  star-spangled sky In 1508 Michelangelo was
  commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere to
  repaint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
• .

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The Sistine Chapel

• The ceiling was completed in 1512 when M was 37.
• From this time onwards, Vasari writes he was
  referred to as Il Divino
• He returned and painted the Last Judgement over
  the altar, between 1535 and 1541on request of
  Pope Paul III Farnese.
• The ceiling is 40m long and shaped like a barrel

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Influences on Michelangelo

• As a young man in Florence studying painting, M
  sketched the work of Masaccio and Giotto.
• He spent a lot of time in the Brancacci Chapel
• He admired Giottos weighty 3D forms, Masaccios
  use of drapery and sculptural forms of his
  figures.
• When sketching them he tended to add to the
  massiveness of the figures and define the drapery
  more strongly.
• Can you recognise which character and which work
  Michelangelo is copying here?

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• Right hand wall showing Peruginos Christ Giving
  the Keys to St. Peter

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Facts and Figures

• Can you match these stats to these numbers?
• 300 1990 1512 520
• Number of days it took to paint the Sistine
  ceiling?
• Approximate number of figures on the ceiling?
• Area of the ceiling in sq metres?
• Decade that the ceiling restoration was
  completed?

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Answers

• It took 4 years and 5 months (1512 days) to paint
  the ceiling. Although he had some assistants
  mixing paint etc, Michelangelo was such a
  perfectionist he did most of the work himself.
• There are over 300 figures on the ceiling
• The ceiling is 40m x 14 m long (520m 2) ( 2 ½
  tennis courts) and the height of a 3 storey
  building.
• Restoration of the ceiling started in the 80s and
  finished in the 1990s. Restorers used pure water
  and chemicals to clean away centuries of smoke
  and grime and reveal the true colours used by
  Michelangelo.

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The Pope v the artist

• Michelangelos relationship with Pope Julius II
  was stormy. He initially refused to paint the
  ceiling, saying he was a sculptor.
• Julius II was very ambitious, a warrior pope who
  had led armies in battle. He was impatient with
  those who worked for him.
• He often visited the Sistine Chapel, climbing the
  scaffolding to see how the work was going
• He constantly asked
• Michelangelo how soon
• it would be completed

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A dangerous job

• Michelangelo painted the ceiling using
  traditional fresco technique
• Extremely difficult and dangerous given the size
  of the ceiling and its height.
• Scaffolding was 16m above floor.
• Michelangelo had to bend over backwards and paint
  above his head
• He invented a stool that he leaned on/rested his
  head on.
• Paint splattered his face all day long and by
  evening his body was so cramped he could only
  read letters from his family by holding them
  above his head.

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The Decorative Scheme

• The CEILING is Divided into 3 zones.
• The lowest zone shows the ancestors of Christ
  40 generations worth, as described in Genesis.
• The middle zone consists of Old Testament
  prophets and pagan sibyls prophetesses. Both
  have knowledge of the Divine and mediate between
  man and God" (Fleming 192). Biblical AND
  Classical.
• The center of the ceiling depicts the story of
  the creation of the world and mans relation to
  God. 9 scenes taken from Genesis. Begins with
  creation and ends with the Last Judgement.
• Diagram shows layout of the WALLS.

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Layout of each band of the ceiling

• Prophets / Sibyls on the outside
• Ignudi, medallions
• Scene from Genesis in the central

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The restoration process revealed surprising
bright colours to Art Historians
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