Michelangelo's masterful interpretation of the heavenly and earthly realms in this epic fresco is a testament to the enduring truths of cosmic harmony and divine providence. He delved deeply into this work through a meticulous process, using many different types of drawing tools.
He spent years lying on his back, completing one panel at a time. Throughout, he challenged artistic conventions and pushed the boundaries of his own talent and physical ability.
Sculpting Perfection in Marble
Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of the most accomplished sculpturers in history, whose century-old works continue to touch people around the world. His passion for marble, and for the subject matter of his statues, can still be sensed today.
Michelangelo drew upon the experience of centuries of Italian art when he sculpted his masterpieces. He was a master draftsman, and had an extraordinary command of human anatomy, which he brought to the lifelike figures in his sculptures.
The figure of David, the colossal giant that crowns the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, is a prime example. It combines the sturdiness and monumentality of Renaissance sculpture with free movement and complex expressiveness. Its face exudes a mix of defiant ferocity and anxious soul-searching.
During the course of the years it took Michelangelo to complete the David, he visited the Carrara quarries several times to select blocks for his statues. He was particularly keen on the quality of white marble, and his sculpting methods were constantly developing.
At first, he used his chisels to rough-hew the marble and define its volume. He then carefully levelled and refined the stone, using a special type of chisel that allowed him to work the marble without harming it. In the final phase of refining, the surface assumed an extraordinary glow, like incandescent crystal. The resulting figure of David has the power to enchant viewers for millennia to come.
The Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Michelangelo was reluctant to accept Pope Julius II della Rovere’s request to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He was a sculptor, not a painter, and he wanted to be sure he could do the job well. But the pope was impatient to begin work, and he eventually convinced Michelangelo to travel from Florence to Rome to tackle this titanic project. Posterity has seldom regretted Michelangelo’s acquiescence in taking on the commission. Indeed, the influential art critic John Ruskin was apoplectic at the ceiling’s many nude figures and argued that Michelangelo had replaced the innocence and piety of early Renaissance Christian art with a dangerous sensualism.
Michelangelo painted the figures and scenes on the ceiling over four years, from 1508 to 1512, working (mostly) alone. To reach the high ceiling, he designed a scaffolding that allowed him to work in both vertical and horizontal positions. This work strained Michelangelo’s neck and back, but he persevered with the task.
One of the most impressive aspects of the ceiling is its sense of unity. Michelangelo achieved this by increasing the scale of the seated nudes to the figures in the scenes, rather than diminishing them as would have been customary in illusionistic wall paintings of the time. He was also careful to continue diagonal motions from one scene to the next and from the scenes to the seated nudes.
The Creation of Adam
One of the most iconic panels on the Sistine Chapel is The Creation of Adam, depicting the moment God breathes life into the first man according to Genesis. The scene is a masterpiece of Renaissance art. It conveys a sense of the grandeur and significance of humankind’s relationship with God and has been interpreted in many different ways.
Michelangelo had honed his drawing skills in Ghirlandaio’s workshop and knew the basics of fresco painting, but he saw himself as primarily a sculptor. In fact, he preferred working in marble because it was more forgiving than fresco, which required a much more delicate touch and could not be erased easily.
The main point of the painting is the fingers of God and Adam touching each other, conveying the transfer of the divine breath of life. However, a small gap is left between their index fingers, which is a sign that the life-giving energy has not yet been imparted. Some scholars believe that Michelangelo used this gap to convey the idea that humankind must reach out and seek the divine, but they cannot force it to enter their lives.
It has also been suggested that the space between God’s and Adam’s hands resembles a placenta, suggesting that the Creator is “birthing” Adam into existence. Others think the shape is an allusion to Christ, who will come to reconcile humanity after Adam’s sins.
The Drunkenness of Noah
Pope Julius II assembled a team of talent to adorn his Sistine Chapel walls and ceiling, including Raphael for his harmonious and graceful compositions; Sandro Botticelli for his richly detailed figures; Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master of fresco narrative; and Pietro Perugino, whose paintings exhibited unerring precision. Michelangelo was not part of this group; his artistic genius remained primarily expressed in three dimensions rather than two, and the complexity of painting on a curved surface demanded an entirely new approach.
Along the central section of the ceiling, Michelangelo depicted nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, organized into groups of three related pictures. The first, framed by the two pairs of ignudi flanking a medallion, showed God creating the Heavens and Earth. The second showed Adam and Eve’s disobedience and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The third portrayed the plight of humankind and in particular Noah’s family.
When Michelangelo carved a figure, he began by sketching the idea on the block of marble and giving instructions to his quarrymen. Then, using tools to measure and level the marble, he started to carve away what was unnecessary, establishing his principle that a statue is best sculpted by "taking out" rather than by adding up. This technique can be clearly seen in the Drunkenness of Noah, where the reclining Noah appears to be falling into a degrading alcoholic stupor. The slender genitals of his younger sons are exposed, and his reddish complexion suggests the effects of alcohol.
The Ancestors of Christ
Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists of his day, renowned for a sculptural and painting style that blends psychological insight, physical realism and intensity. Nicknamed “Il Divino” (The Divine), he was a controversial figure, with his works often inspiring both awe and terror.
Florence was a bustling arts center at the time of the Renaissance and provided an opportune environment for Michelangelo’s innate talent to flourish. At age 13, his father reluctantly agreed to allow him to apprentice with Domenico Ghirlandaio, a Florentine painter. However, the young Michelangelo quickly surpassed his mentor’s abilities and began to draw the attention of Lorenzo de' Medici, a prominent art patron. Lorenzo invited Michelangelo to live in his palatial villa and he treated the boy like a son.
It was while living in the Medici household that Michelangelo worked on his magnum opus, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which took four laborious years to complete. It depicts biblical stories, including the Creation of Adam and the Great Flood. The awe-inspiring ceiling is a testament to Michelangelo’s immense skill and vision, which showed man in close relation with divinity.
While working on the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo also carved a traditional type of devotional image known as a Pieta. The masterpiece, displaying the Virgin Mary supporting her dead son Jesus on his knees, earned Michelangelo worldwide fame and is now in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
The Ignudi and Cherubim
For the paintings on the ceiling Michelangelo used a technique called fresco, where pigments are absorbed into a plaster surface. This allowed Michelangelo to create a painting that is one with the structure of the chapel, and which also allows the viewer to move around the figures and scenes without obscuring them.
The vault of the Sistine Chapel is pierced by triangular pendentives at each corner, and there are double spandrels above the windows on either side. Between these pendentives, Michelangelo painted scenes from the Old Testament to illustrate a number of Biblical stories. The only obvious common thread is that the stories all relate to the Jewish people being saved from some threat. This is why the scenes from the Book of Numbers, and especially that from the story of Moses slaying fiery serpents, are so compelling today.
Surrounding the main narrative sequences are a series of twenty athletic, nude male figures. Dubbed 'Ignudi' by Michelangelo, these figures have defied identification apart from their casual connection with the angels of the Last Judgment. The Ignudi support or rest upon a variety of objects, including pink ribbons, green bolsters and garlands of acorns. It is possible that these supports symbolise the Jewish sacrifice of animals, or more generally, a Christian sacrifice of self. Alternatively they may be seen as a reference to the genitals of a woman. Certainly they are an example of Michelangelo’s extraordinary love of the human body.
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