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Sistine Chapel ceiling

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Sistine Chapel ceiling

The Sistine Chapel ceiling (Italian: Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named. The ceiling was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II. The ceiling's various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel. Prior to Michelangelo's contribution, the walls were painted by several leading artists of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino. After the ceiling was painted, Raphael created a set of large tapestries (1515–1516) to cover the lower portion of the wall. Michelangelo returned to the chapel to create The Last Judgment, a large wall fresco situated behind the altar. The chapel's decoration illustrates much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church, serving as the setting for papal conclaves and many other important services. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, including The Creation of Adam. The complex design includes several sets of figures, some clothed and some nude, allowing Michelangelo to demonstrate his skill in depicting the human figure in a variety of poses. The ceiling was immediately well-received and imitated by other artists, continuing to the present. It has been restored several times, most recently from 1980 to 1994.

Infobox

Artist
Michelangelo
Location
Sistine Chapel, part of Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Coordinates
mw- 41°54′11″N 12°27′16″E / 41.90306°N 12.45444°E / 41.90306; 12.45444
Followed by
The Last Judgment

Tables

· External links
Preceded byRaphael Rooms
Landmarks of RomeSistine Chapel ceiling
Succeeded byAurelian Walls

References

  1. Walter Pater writes, "Michelangelo was now thirty years old, and his reputation was established. Three great works fill
  2. This engaged Julius II's attention and by February 1513, when he died, little work had been done on his tomb. It had bee
  3. It is unknown and the subject of speculation among art historians whether Michelangelo was really able to paint the ceil
  4. Seeming to contradict Roselli's letter, Ascanio Condivi theorized that Bramante put Michelangelo's name forward for the
  5. The Bolognese destroyed the bronze in 1511.
  6. The tomb project, which Michelangelo would return to, was reinvigorated by Julius II's family after the pope's 1513 deat
  7. By one count, there are 343 figures.
  8. It now stands further from the altar.
  9. Both Vasari and Condivi mistake the Sacrifice of Noah for the sacrifices by Cain and Abel.
  10. These are not marked on the drawn plan but are clearly visible in the photographs.
  11. This evokes a formula common in Classical architecture, e.g. 'egg and dart' and 'bead and reel'.
  12. Sixtus IV and Julius II were both of the Della Rovere family. "Rovere" in Italian means 'oak'.
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rovere
  13. The scallop shell (and pearl) is a symbol of the doctrine of the Incarnation in Renaissance and baroque art.
  14. For instance, Poor Man's Bibles
  15. According to Genesis, on the fifth day, God created the birds of the air and fish and creatures of the deep, but this is
  16. In accordance with chapter 9 of the apocryphal Gospel of James, where Joseph says "I am an old man", Renaissance art use
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_VIII/Apocrypha_of_the_New_Testament/The_Protevangelium_of_James
  17. The lunettes specifically follow the genealogy according to Matthew, not the somewhat longer genealogy according to Luke
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Matthew#Chapter_1
  18. Mancinelli notes that Eleazar is executed similarly to the ignudi.
  19. Singular: Ignudo; from the Italian adjective nudo, meaning "naked"
  20. Michelangelo later included over forty angels in The Last Judgment, which it has been claimed resemble the ignudi.[citat
  21. Sources showing the work before the restoration was complete feature colours which are more saturated than they are in t
  22. Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine
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  86. The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form
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  88. Blech, Benjamin (2008). The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican, HarperOne, p
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  97. Gardner 1970, pp. 466–467.
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  101. Vasari 1991, p. 445.
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  103. O'Malley 1986, p. 105.
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  107. Jelbert, Rebecca (2025). Michelangelo’s Puzzle: Forgery, Star Maps and the Sistine Chapel. New York and London: Bloomsbu
  108. Schiltz, Katelijne (2015). Music and Riddle Culture in the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.272. Sc
  109. For Leonardo's creation of pictograms (or rebuses), in which he replaced letters and words with pictures, see Schiltz, M
  110. Meshberger, Frank, “An Interpretation of Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’ Based on Neuroanatomy” The Journal of the Ame
  111. Reis, Leonardo et al., “The Interpretation of the Figure of the Prophet Jonah by Michelangelo on the Ceiling of the Sist
  112. La Cava, Francesco (1925). Il Volto Di Michelangelo Scoperto Nel Giudizio F Inale: Un Dramma Psicologico in Un Ritratto
  113. Urban, Emily, “Depicting the Heavens: The Use of Astrology in the Frescos of Renaissance Rome” Culture and Cosmos, vol.
  114. Métral, Florian, “The Sistine Chapel’s Starry Sky Reconsidered” Mitteilungen Des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz
  115. Jelbert, Michelangelo’s Puzzle, pp.65-119.; For Pope Julius' combined interest in astronomy and astrology see Quinlan-Mc
  116. Jelbert, Michelangelo’s Puzzle, pp.65-119.
  117. In antiquity it was believed there were two separate sets of heavenly gates, the gates of the sun (located at Cancer and
  118. Catterson, Lynn, “Michelangelo’s ‘Laocoön?’” Artibus et Historiae, vol. 26, no. 52, 2005: pp.29–56.
  119. In star lore there are a number of different interpretations for every constellation, but the link between Ophiuchus and
  120. Jelbert, Michelangelo’s Puzzle, pp.17-18, 105-13.
  121. Shearman 1986, p. 28.
  122. O'Malley 1986, p. 128.
  123. "Sistine Chapel Ceiling: The Pendentives"
    https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/volta/pennacchi.html
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  127. Partridge 1996, p. 9
  128. O'Malley 1986, p. 95.
  129. O'Malley 1986, pp. 104–105, 160–161.
  130. King, 53-54, 54 quoted
  131. King, 55-58, 56 quoted
  132. King, 36-37, 56-57
  133. Art in Renaissance Italy
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  135. Vasari 1991, p. 444.
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  138. National Geographic
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  140. The Art and Thought of Michelangelo
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  141. The Art Bulletin
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  143. Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 134.
  144. Pfisterer 2018, p. 61.
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  146. O'Malley 1986, pp. 112, 118–120, 126.
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  148. O'Malley 1986, pp. 110.
  149. O'Malley 1986, p. 118.
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  151. Chasqui
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  152. Lactantius : Divine institutes
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  154. www.catholicculture.org
    https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7527.
  155. O'Malley 1986, pp. 107–117.
  156. O'Malley 1986, p. 116.
  157. O'Malley 1986, pp. 162–169 (captions).
  158. Bartz & König 2013, p. 56.
  159. Modern Painters
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  164. Mancinelli 1986, p. 238.
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  166. Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 137.
  167. Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 138.
  168. Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 141.
  169. Bartz & König 2013, p. 44.
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  171. Mancinelli 1986, p. 254.
  172. Wisch 2003, p. 164-6.
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  174. O'Malley 1986, p. 97.
  175. Hersey 1993, pp. 58–59, 170–171.
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  177. Hersey 1993, pp. 197–198.
  178. Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 136.
  179. Hersey 1993, p. 25.
  180. Gardner 1970, pp. 392, 467.
  181. New York Daily News
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  192. Pietrangeli 1994, p. 6.
  193. Pietrangeli 1994, p. 7.
  194. Homily preached at the mass of to celebrate the unveiling of the restorations of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
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  195. Art Restoration: The Culture, the Business and the Scandal
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  197. Letter. Original: (in German) Ich kann euch nicht ausdrücken, wie sehr ich euch zu mir gewünscht habe, damit ihr nur ein
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  198. Bartz & König 2013, p. 6.
  199. The Sunday Times
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  200. The prophet Jonah (restored)
  201. First Day of Creation, in context with medallions and Ignudi (restored)
  202. Dividing Water and Heavens, in context with medallions and Ignudi (restored)
  203. Creation of the Earth and the celestial bodies, (restored)
  204. God creating Eve from the side of the sleeping Adam, in context with medallions and Ignudi (before restoration)
  205. Adam and Eve: temptation and banishment (restored)
  206. The Sacrifice of Noah (restored)
  207. The Great Flood (before restoration)
  208. Noah's drunkenness in context, with medallions and Ignudi (before restoration)
  209. The "Uriah" medallion
  210. The incomplete medallion on the left-hand side of the "Separation of the Waters" panel
  211. The prophet Jeremiah (restored)
  212. The Persian Sibyl (restored)
  213. The prophet Ezekiel (restored)
  214. The Erithraean Sibyl (before restoration)
  215. The prophet Joel (before restoration)
  216. The prophet Zechariah (before restoration)
  217. The Delphic Sibyl (restored)
  218. The prophet Isaiah (restored)
  219. The Cumean Sibyl (restored)
  220. The prophet Daniel (before restoration)
  221. The Libyan Sibyl (restored)
  222. The crucifixion of Haman (Before restoration)
  223. The Brazen Serpent (Before restoration)
  224. Judith carrying the head of Holofernes (Before restoration)
  225. David slaying Goliath (Before restoration)
  226. The destroyed lunettes: Abraham / Isaac / Jacob / Judah and Pharez / Hezron / Ram, engravings by William Young Ottley.
  227. Eleazar and Mathan lunette (before restoration)
  228. Woman cutting garment, the "Salmon Spandrel" (restored)
  229. Woman looking from a spandrel before and after restoration
  230. Masaccio: The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden fresco, 208 cm × 88 cm (82 in × 35 in) Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria d
  231. Luca Signorelli: Resurrection of the Flesh (1499–1502) Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
  232. Raphael (c. 1509) Heraclitus detail from the School of Athens, a portrait of Michelangelo
  233. Gospel of Matthew 12:39–40.
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Matthew#12:39
  234. Gospel of John 3:14–15
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/John#3:14
  235. Numbers 21:4–9
    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Numbers#21:4
  236. Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9; Matthew, chapter 21, verses 4–5
  237. Genesis, chapters 1, 8–9
  238. Genesis, chapter 1
  239. Genesis, chapters 1–3
  240. Genesis, chapters 6–9
  241. Joel, chapter 2, verse 28.
  242. The Book of Esther
  243. Gospel of Matthew 1:16
    https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew%201:16&version=nrsv
  244. First Book of Samuel, chapter 2:18
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