The ceiling of the Sistine chapelMichelangelo

1508-1512Fresco

Renaissance

Location

• The Sistine chapel is located in the Vatican, Rome, Italy

• It is the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population

• It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of around 840.

The Vatican

St. Peters square, patrolled by the Italian police

The Sistine chapel’s uses

• The Sistine Chapel is used by the Pope, for official ceremonies.

• After a pope's death, Roman Catholic cardinals from all over the world usually gather in the chapel in order to elect a successor.

The Commissioner• Pope Julius II , "The Fearsome Pope" and "The

Warrior Pope“• His papacy was marked by an active foreign

policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts—he commissioned the destruction and rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, plus Michelangelo's decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

• It was his intention and expectation that the iconography of the ceiling was to be read with many layers of meaning.

Pope Julius II and Michelangelo

How Michelangelo painted it

• Michelangelo had to build his own scaffold in order to reach the ceiling

• He used bright colors, easily visible from the floor.

• The painted area is about 40 m (131 ft) long by 13 m (43 ft) wide. This means that Michelangelo painted well over 5,000 square feet (460 m2) of frescoes

• 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

• There are over 300 figures which showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Great Flood.

Restoration

• The restoration of the wall frescoes by Boticceli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino and others was unveiled on 11 December 1999.[59]

• The colors, which now appear so fresh and spring-like with pale pink, apple green, vivid yellow and sky blue against a background of warm pearly grey, were so discolored by candle smoke as to make the pictures seem almost monochrome. The restoration has removed the filter of grime to reveal the colors again.

• However, the restoration was met with both praise and criticism. Critics assert that much original work by Michelangelo was lost in the removal of various accretions

The Sistine chapel today

• Still is being used by the pope for ceremonies• Can be visited on a paid tour as well as all the

other attractions in the vatican