Sistine Chapel ceiling
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The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City was painted by Michelangelo during the Italian Renaissance between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling is perhaps most famous for the image of the Creation of Adam. 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 depicted with scenes. Surprisingly for a painting inside a church at the time, the sistine ceiling uses much pagan imagery from Greek and Roman times, such as the sibyls which 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 being the twelve apostles, but Michelangelo changed the original design.
The method
To be able 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 , created by one of his assistants, Jacopo l'Indaco. This one not only resisted mold, but also entered the Italian building tradition (and is still in use today).
Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem, unrestored
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. But not Michelangelo. The man who could envisage and create David was also able to draft straight onto the ceiling. We see his energetic sweeping outlines scraped into some of the surfaces, while on other a grid is apparent, indicating that he enlarged directly onto the ceiling from a small drawing.
Ezekiel hears the word of the Lord, restored
The fresco technique was tricky. If the artist worked onto completely dry plaster, then every brushstroke sank in immediately. It was a very meticulous business because the colours didn't flow. Michelangelo painted onto damp plaster which meant that he could use a wash technique to apply broad areas of colour, then as the surface became a little drier, work over it in a linear way, adding shade and detail with a variety of brushes. For some textured surfaces he used a broad brush with bristles as sparse as a comb, stroking on beards and woodgrain.
Altogether, his techniques show the skill that one would expect of Ghirlandaio's greatest pupil. (Ghirlandaio is more famous for his frescoes than his panel painting, which gives the lie to Michelangelo's story about his rivals.) He employs 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 never 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. This is more apparent in the Last Judgement than on the ceiling.
The bright colours and the broad cleanly-defined outlines of the pictures make each subject easily visible from the floor. Despite the height of the ceiling, 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 aginst a background of warm pearly grey, were so discoloured by candlesmoke as to make the pictures seem dark and murky. The long restoration has removed the filter of grime to reveal the full quality of the paintings again.
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 with God separating light from darkness closest to the altar. They were painted in this order, with Michelangelo said to have painted the last scene, the light and darkness, in only one day. They show Michelangelo using increasong freedom with his design as he painted them. 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
The Ignudi
The Ignudi (singular: ignudo; from the Italian adjective nudo, meaning “naked”) are the 20 athletic, nude, male figures that Michelangelo painted at each of 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. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
Most of the figures are surrounded and weaving 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 obvious reason for their abundance is that Pope Julius II, who commissioned the work, was of the della Rovere family ("of the Oak"): simply they are Michelangelo's joking allusions to his patron. So this was perhaps Michelangelo’s way to include reference to his patron in his work.
There are many speculations about the meaning of ignudi. They are naked humans, perhaps representing the naked truth. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
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 classical Greek view that “the man is the measure of all things”. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
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 Isiah and Daniel on the other. The four major prophets of 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 more "minor" prophets. The sibyls are between the prophets on the long sides. Each of the prophets is identified by his name written as if lettered on a coloured marble panel beneath him, 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
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 sibylls are on one side (Libyan, Cumaean and Delphican) separated by the prophets Daniel and Isaiah. The other two sibyls are on the other side (Erythraean and Persian) 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)
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 Holifernes, Haman punished for a plot he had against the Jews, and Moses erecting the bronze serpent:
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)
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.
Quotation
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?"
External links
- [Vatican Museum]
- [Images of the Ignudi]
- [- Models Michelangelo used to make his sculptures and paintings]
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