Needless to say, Michelangelo was one of the most prolific painters and sculptors in history. As an important figure of the Renaissance, he was known for his ambitious creative scale and his expertise in anatomy. From all his works, we can feel the talent that cannot be ignored.
The Sistine Chapel is famous for Michelangelo's creation of Genesis and The Last Judgment.
About the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel was founded in 1445 by Pope Sistus IV, and the name of the church "Sistine" is derived from the name of the pope at that time, "Sistine". The ceiling painting inside its church is a monument to Michelangelo's painting art, one of the three masters of the Renaissance, and it stands together with another fresco in the same church, "The Last Judgment", as the two most representative masterpieces of Michelangelo's life.
The Sistine Chapel was originally just a private prayer hall for the Pope. To this day, it retains its religious role: cardinals meet here to elect the next pope.
Photo: juni_cz, pixabay
The Sistine Chapel is famous for what
The Book of Genesis is a 9-line mural with religious themes painted by Michelangelo in the central part of the ceiling of the hall according to the architectural frame. Consisting of three parts: "God Created the World", "The Fall of the World", and "Undue Sacrifice", each scene revolves around a huge, all-shaped sitting naked youth, flanked by vivid witches, prophets, and slaves. The whole picture is majestic and extraordinary, and the vault seems to be trembling because it cannot bear its weight.
Photo: Antoine Taveneaux, Wikimedia Commons
background
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Michelangelo was a respected Italian artist.
As an important figure of the Renaissance, he is known for his ambitious scale of creation and his expertise in anatomy to create lifelike figures. From all his works, we can feel the talent that cannot be ignored.
In 1504, Pope Julie II commissioned him to renovate the dome of the Sistine Chapel. Previously, early Renaissance painters such as Botticelli and Perugino created a number of frescoes for the church with the theme of Jesus Christ to decorate the walls.
Although, the pope planned to tell the story of the 12 apostles on the dome of the church, Michelangelo had a larger plan: he put more than 300 characters from the Bible on the dome to interpret several classic biblical scenes.
Photo by Jean Christophe Benoist, Wikimedia Commons
method
In order to paint such a grand zenith painting, Michelangelo created special scaffolding. This is by no means the simple scaffolding we have of standing on the floor, and Michelangelo's predecessor Bramante devised a fairly ingenious method of hanging ropes from the ceiling and hanging from the wooden platform, but in this way, many holes had to be drilled in the ceiling. The problem that scaffolding does not take up space on the ground may be solved, but it will leave Michelangelo with a bigger problem, that is, how to fill the ugly hole after the rope is removed, Michelangelo believes that this is an unworkable idea, and it is the architect's latest proof that there is more than enough failure, so the two are very unhappy. Although Michelangelo's experience in engineering is far inferior to Bramante's, he is ambitious.
So the artist invented an alternative scaffolding, like a majestic "overpass": a series of pedestrian bridges of the same height as the window across the chapel, the drill holes next to the upper edge of the top cornice, and a few feet above the heads of the 32 frescoed papal frescoes, about 38 meters deep into the brick structure. These holes are used to hold short wooden brackets, i.e. rows of cantilever beams. Then, in line with the curvature of the ceiling, a staircase of the same curvature is erected on the bracket and strung together into an overpass to form a deck on which painters and plasterers can work and reach any corner of the roof.
This scaffolding covers only half the length of the chapel, that is, only spans the walls between the first three window posts. Therefore, after the engineer Rosselli's workers had finished the work of knocking out the first half of the chapel, they had to remove the arched staircase and move it to the back half to reorganize it. When Michelangelo painted, he also had to repeat the process. This scaffolding solved the problem of space that did not occupy the ground in one fell swoop, and after actual use, it proved to be more economical than Bramante's design.
After the scaffolding was installed, Michelangelo began his grand project. Like many Italian Renaissance painters, he used the technique of fresco painting, which meant he had to paint on wet stucco. In order to produce a staggered visual feeling, Michelangelo will scrape off some damp media before the dome has dried, and strive for a three-dimensional sense of the picture. This method can make the figure more "contoured" and thus more lifelike, which may be closely related to his sculptural skills.
Photo: Via Wikimedia Commons
Since the lime dried quickly, Michelangelo applied lime every day to ensure that the work continued.
Imaging
The center of the ceiling consists of nine scenes, from Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. These panels are surrounded by portraits of important people in the Bible. In total, 343 characters were incorporated into the scene. These include famous biblical stories, including Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, and more.
Central scene:
Separation of light from darkness
Photo: Web gallery, Wikimedia Commons
The creation of the sun, the moon and vegetation
Photo: Sistine Chapel, Wikimedia Commons
Separation of soil and water
Adam
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Eve
Photo: Web gallery via Wikimedia Commons
The fall of mankind and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Noah sacrifice
Photo: humanitiesweb, Wikimedia Commons
deluge
Noah's drunkenness
Photo by Jorge Valenzuela via Wikimedia Commons
Prophet Daniel
Delphic Sibyl
Jesus' ancestors, Jesse, David and Solomon
Photo: gallery.euroweb, Wikimedia Commons
Naked
legend
Today, the Sistine Chapel remains a popular tourist destination and a highly recognized religious site. About 25,000 people look up at this magnificent dome every day, all of which is a testament to Michelangelo's greatness.
Source: mymodernmet
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