Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is a chapel in the Palace of the Vatican, the official residence of the Roman Catholic Pope in the Vatican City. It was built between 1475 and 1483, in the time of Pope Sixtus IV, and is one of the most famous churches of the Western World. The name Sistine is derived from the Italian sistino meaning of or pertaining to Sixtus IV.

Frescos

The wall paintings were executed by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli and their respective workshops, which included Pinturicchio, Piero di Cosimo and Bartolomeo della Gatta.

Related Topics:
Pietro Perugino - Sandro Botticelli - Domenico Ghirlandaio - Cosimo Rosselli - Luca Signorelli - Pinturicchio - Piero di Cosimo - Bartolomeo della Gatta

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The subjects of the pictures were historical religious themes, selected and divided according to the medieval concept of the partition of the world history into three epochs: before the ten commandments were given to Moses, between Moses and Christ's birth, and the Christian era thereafter. They underline the continuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, or the transition from the Mosaic law to the Christian religion.

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Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to repaint the ceiling, originally representing golden stars on a blue sky; the work was completed between 1508 and November 1, 1512. He painted the Last Judgement over the altar, between 1535 and 1541, being commissioned by Pope Paul III Farnese. Michelangelo felt that he was a more developed sculptor than a painter, but he accepted the offer.

Related Topics:
Michelangelo Buonarroti - Pope Julius II - 1508 - November 1 - 1512 - Last Judgement - Altar - 1535 - 1541 - Pope Paul III

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The ceiling

In 1508 Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the vault, or ceilling of the chapel. It took him until 1512 to complete. To be able to reach the ceiling, Michelangelo needed a support; the first idea was by Bramante, who wanted to build for him a special scaffold, suspended in the air with ropes. But Michelangelo suspected that this would leave holes in the ceiling once the work was ended, so he built a scaffold of his own, 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.

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The first layer of plaster began to grow mold because it was too wet. Michelangelo had to remove it and start again, but he tried a new mixture, called intonaco, 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 now in use). Michelangelo used bright colors, easily visible from the floor.

Related Topics:
Intonaco - Jacopo l'Indaco

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On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ. Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section Michelangelo painted nine stories from the Book of Genesis.

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Michelangelo was employed to paint only 12 figures, the Apostles, but when the work was finished there were more than 300. His figures showed the Creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and The Great Flood. The sketches are a really precious and curious document. Michelangelo used male models, even for the females, because female models were more rare and costly than male ones.

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The Last Judgement

The Last Judgement was an object of a heavy dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo: the artist was accused of immorality and intolerable obscenity, having depicted naked figures, with genitals in evidence, inside the most important church of Christianity, so a censorship campaign (known as the "Fig-Leaf Campaign") was organized by Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) to remove the frescoes. When the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena said "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns." Michelangelo worked his semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. It is said that when da Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.

Related Topics:
Last Judgement - Church - Christianity - Censorship - Mantua - Minos

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The genitalia in the fresco were later covered by the artist Daniele da Volterra, whom history remembers by the derogatory nickname 'the breeches-painter'.

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Restoration and controversy

The chapel has been recently restored (1981 through 1994). This restoration was initally surrounded by a heated controversy in the art world, some claiming it a success and a breakthrough revelation, while a few claiming it ruined the masterpiece. Some conservationists complained about the loss of a brown patina that had developed over centuries, comprised of candle smoke, soot, and repeated applications of poor quality varnish. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, they claim that this layer of murky material was actually applied by Michelangelo himself in order to "harmonise" what they called 'ice-cream colors'. The bright colors reveal Michelangelo to have been a masterful colorist, and close-ups of the frescos show complex brushwork that would not be matched, nor even attempted until the Impressionist movement of the nineteenth century. Others comment that bright colors were necessary for the frescoes to stand out in the gloom of the chapel, with its high, narrow windows. Now that the electric lighting has been removed, and the frescos illuminated solely by the light from the windows, the orginal colors and effect have been restored.

Related Topics:
1981 - 1994 - Patina

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