Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

            According to Consuelo Lollobrigida, one of the UARC’s brilliant art history professors, the man who was hired to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508 was, “just some young artist from Florence named Michelangelo Buonarotti.” 

Just some artist.  It’s hard for me to envision a time when Renaissance masters like Michelangelo were just beginning to make a name for themselves.  Walking through the Vatican Museums yesterday, one thought kept running through my mind: Is there anybody alive today that is even close to being as talented as these guys?   But perhaps this is a loaded question.  The socio-political climate was entirely different five centuries ago.  Oh, and there weren’t nearly as many easily accessible distractions back then – television, social media, etc.  In a way, high art WAS the distraction.    

So, with all the distractions present in modern day society, why does the work of Michelangelo and co. continue to draw more than 5 MILLION people to the Vatican Museums each year?  I’m starting to think that the answer to that question is entirely subjective.  When I first entered the Sistine chapel yesterday, herded along by several stern gendarmerie, my eyes were immediately drawn to the Creation of Adam in the center of the ceiling.  For me, experiencing the Sistine chapel was all about that powerful centerpiece.

More specifically, the driving energy behind the ceiling’s beauty, I think, is the tiny white space between the index fingers of God and man.  There is nothing in that space.  It’s completely vacant.  Where is the spark of creation?  Perhaps it’s a product of our own minds – something we have to create for ourselves. 

All I know is that I did feel that spark when I was standing under Michelangelo’s masterpiece yesterday.  I felt the energy radiating all around the room.  I stared up in awe for maybe ten minutes, only to turn around and look at the back wall.  Whoa!  The dark and haunting 3-D likenesses in the Last Judgement are so different from the bright figures on the ceiling that the energy I was feeling got disrupted – redirected through the powerful image of Jesus in the center of the wall. 

By the time Michelangelo painted The Last Judgement in 1535, “he was MICHELANGELO!” Professor Consuelo told us, “and he was given complete control over his painting on the back wall.”  In fact, the Vatican pulled out all the stops to allow Michelangelo access to everything he needed.  Dyes were even brought over from the new world to be used in the paint.  So why the dramatic shift in energy? 

So much had happened between 1508 and 1535.  Rome had been sacked, and Michelangelo had aged.  Interestingly, as his reputation grew, Michelangelo increasingly questioned his own self-worth.  This is evident in his portrayal of himself as a deflated and flayed piece of skin dangling from the hand of St. Bartholomew on the ‘damned’ side of The Last Judgement. 

Michelangelo depicts heaven and hell in the painting, but my attention was instinctively drawn to the hell side of the wall – and indeed this side seems to be Michelangelo’s focus.  An image of a damned man being pulled down to hell by a demon particularly stands out.  The Last Judgement signals a huge shift in the history and focus of art.  To be able to see that shift occur before my eyes, glancing from ceiling to wall, was really incredible. 

I think I ultimately left the Sistine Chapel feeling somewhat conflicted, much as Michelangelo did later in his life.  I could feel the energy and the excitement and the very youth of Michelangelo radiating from the ceiling, but much of that energy was absorbed by the grim figures on the wall. 

I think this ebb and flow of energy is only appropriate considering that the Sistine chapel has always been a place of endings AND beginnings.  It has been the home of the Conclave for centuries – the gathering of Cardinals that takes place when a Pope dies or retires in order to elect a new one. No pictures were allowed in the chapel, but here are some images I took offline of the Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement.

Alright.  If you made it this far, you must love history and art almost as much as I do!  I appreciate that.  I want to talk more about the Vatican Museums as a whole, and about the interior of St. Peter’s Basilica, but I think I will be going back in the next few weeks, so I may create separate posts for them at a later time.  For the remainder of this post, I just want to briefly discuss the classes I’m taking here at the Rome Center.

My first official day in the classroom was today, as we had been doing site visits mostly as a group for the past week or so.  I was in the classroom from 9:30-1:00 today for my two classes – “The Renaissance in Rome” and “The Sonnet and the Rebirth of Love”.  My professor, Dr. Bill Quinn, lectured on the many Renaissance authors and personalities that we will be learning about in the coming weeks. 

            One of the most interesting ideas I took away from Dr. Quinn’s lecture today was that the Renaissance was really the only major time period since antiquity to celebrate itself.  Renaissance thinkers invented the idea of the Dark Ages (traditionally thought to encompass the time period from 476-1341 C.E.), and this idea serves to further elevate and distinguish them as a unique group. 

            I think we are still celebrating ourselves today.  Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel ceiling and Last Judgment wall perhaps represent the rise and fall of the human race.  We haven’t fallen yet, and so for now we just keep on rising. 

            Again, thanks for reading!  I hope to post again either later this week or early next week.  I will end here with a quote attributed to Michelangelo: “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish.”

Ciao,

Brock