ART IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL

A visit to The Sistine Chapel is a “must” for every visitor to Rome, but it can be a sensory overload.

The Chapel is often crowded with many tourists. As far as I know, taking pictures is prohibited.

The ushers might make you feel like you must leave quickly so that other crowds may have their turn to visit the chapel.

The purpose of this presentation is to give a brief overview, so that one can know what to expect when they enter the chapel, and perhaps more fully appreciate and enjoy the artwork found in it.

It is more like an art gallery than a chapel!

I hope you enjoy this presentation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT

THE SISTINE CHAPEL

AND ITS MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTIST,

MICHELANGELO

Rome, Italy. The Vatican. At centre, the Dome of St Peter's Basilica. The Papal Gardens in the foreground.

An aerial view of St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican Square.

The Sistine Chapel. When the Pope dies, this is the room that the Cardinals gather in to elect the new Pope. It is also like an art gallery!

Michelangelo Buonarotti lived from 1475 to 1564. A passionate artist. He is the artist who painted more panels in The Sistine Chapel than any other artist.

Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor. He carved this statue of 'Drunken Bacchus' when he was only 21 years old.

Drunken Bacchus with a bloated belly and unfocussed eyes.

LA PIETA

“La Pieta” means pity, compassion, or sorry. It is the sorry of Mary. This was carved when Michelangelo was just 24 years old. This statue is in St. Peter's Basilica. It is one of 4 “La Pieta” statues that Michelangelo carved.

Michelangelo did not normally sign his work with his name. However, he overheard someone attribute this carving to another artist, so he then signed his name on the sash of the Madonna.

On Pentecost Sunday in 1972, a madman attacked the statue with a hammer and gave it 15 blows. The statue was restored by carving experts and was unveiled about a year later.

DAVIDDavid (from the ‘David and Goliath’ story) was carved as a symbol of Florence when Michelangelo was 29. It is nicknamed “The Giant”. Michelangelo studied the human body very closely so that he could carve it precisely. This statue is in The Gallery of the Academy in Florence.

MOSES

Moses was carved when Michelangelo was 40, for Pope Julius II's tomb.

THE CEILING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL

PAINTED BY MICHELANGELO FROM 1508 TO 1512

MIchelangelo was not a painter. He did not want to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Some reports say the Pope said he could choose to either paint the ceiling or go to prison. Because Michelangelo was such a famous artist, the Pope wanted him to paint the ceiling.

A painting of Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, with Pope Julius II watching from far below. He painted like this from 1508 to 1512. (Roughly age 33 to 37.)

Michelangelo’s ceiling panels tell stories from the bible.

THE FIRST 3 PANELS

(CREATION)

The Separation of Light and Darkness

Genesis:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Close up of God's neck and beard and nose.

Some people believe God’s neck and face are painted like a brain.

God creates the sun and planets. “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. In this picture you can see the sun, and also the grey moon to the right.”

Interesting that Michelangelo shows God's bare bottom! Some people say that this is right over where the new Pope is crowned, and he did this bare bum as a protest to Pope Julius II whom he painted this ceiling for.

Creation of the Creatures of the Sea:

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.”

It is not obvious but there is water in this picture and there are sea creatures being created beneath the surface.

“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly.”

THE MIDDLE 3 PANELS (ADAM AND EVE)

The Creation of Adam. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Genesis 27

“So God created man in his own image.”

Some people think God is inside of a human brain in this picture.

The Creation of Eve

“21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

“27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

In the time of Michelangelo, the Old Testament was thought to have stories which parallel the New Testament. Adam was a parallel to Jesus. Some people think Adam's sleeping body here is like Jesus' dead body waiting for the tomb.

“3 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” The devil is the serpent winding its body up the tree, and at the top takes the shape of a woman. Again thinking about parallels between Old Testament and New Testament, some people feel that the tree and arms of the devil and angel in red are like the cross that Jesus will die upon.

THE LAST 3 PANELS (NOAH)

UNLIKE THE FIRST 6 PANELS, THESE PANELS ARE OUT OF CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Noah’s Sacrifice After the Flood: Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

Genesis 8:20; Noah's sacrifice after the flood.

You can see the fire on the altar, which was used for the burnt offerings to God. At bottom right, they are slicing the throat of the sheep.

7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

The Great Flood – detail.

The Great Flood – detail.

The Drunkeness of Noah

“20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.”

THE WALL BEHIND THE ALTAR: THE LAST JUDGEMENT

(PAINTED BY MICHELANGELO)

Michelangelo painted this wall from about the age of 60 to 65. There is a lot of activity in the picture.

The people at bottom left are being awoken from being dead so that they can be judged.

The people at the bottom right are being sent to hell. Charon is just behind the cross. He operates the boat that takes dead souls across the river to hell.

The people on the top left are going to heaven. Some are pulled up by the angels using their rosaries.

The top 2 arches show "The Instruments of His Passion" - the cross Jesus was crucified on and the pillar he was tied to as he was scourged.

Michelangelo’s original paintings were mostly nude.

But some people thought it was a little too much. So other artists later covered the private areas with paintings of cloths.

1 The Archangel Gabriel2 Pharoah’s daughter who found Moses; or Eve; or Sarah3 and 4 Niobe and a daughter [Niobe is a queen from mythology whose many children were killed by Apollo and Artemis; see this ancient statue]; or Eve and a daughter (the personification of maternity); or the merciful Church and a believer5 Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain; or Eve6 Abraham; or St. Bernard; or Pope Julius II7 St. John the Baptist; or Adam8 Rachel; or Dante’s Beatrice9 Noah; or Enoch; or Pope Paul III10 St. Andrew; or John the Baptist; or Dimas [St. Dimas was the Good Thief who was crucified with Jesus]11 St. Martha; or St. Anne; or Vittoria Colonna, Michelangelo’s great friend12 St. Lawrence13 *The Virgin Mary14 *Christ the Judge15 Solomon’s wife; or Dante16 Francesco Amadori (the Urbino); or Tommaso de Cavalieri, Michelangelo’s friend17 St. Bartholomew with the face of Pietro Aretino, the poet who criticized the painting as indecent17a The skin of St. Bartholomew with the face of Michelangelo18 St. Paul19 St. Peter20 St. Mark; or Pope Clement VII21 St. Longinus, the soldier who lanced Christ on the Cross22 Simon Zelote23 St. Philip; or Dimas24 Job; or Adam; or Abraham25 Job’s wife; or Eve; or Pope Hadrian VI26 St. Blaise27 St. Catherine of Alexandria28 St. Sebastian with the arrows of his martrydom29 Dimas; or St. Francis of Assisi; St. Andrew; Simon the Cyrenian; the encarnation of Justice; the symbol of Man with his trials and tribulations30 Moses; or Adam31, 32, 33 One of the blessed; or an angel raising two black men34 The Archangel Michael with the Book of the Chosen Ones35 A proud man; or a swindler36 A proud man; or one condemned for Despair (as opposed to theological Hope)37 A devil38 A proud man or a lazy (slothful) man39 and 40 Pablo and Francesca41 A miser; or the simoniac Pope Nicholas III42 An irate or a proud man43 A lustful man caught and thrown down to hell by his genitals44 Michelangelo45 Michelangelo; or Pope Julius II; or Virgil; or St. Stephen; or Plato (or wisdom); or a charitable monk; or an angel; or Martin Luther46 Dante47 Savonarola48 Charon [the boatman of mythology who ferries souls to the Underworld]; or Satan with the features of the Condestable of Bourbon49 Cesar Borgia50 Minos [the Judge at the gates to the Underworld] with the face of Biagio da Cesena51 and 52 Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggeri

Jesus and Mary at centre.

Michelangelo's The Last Judgment shows St Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo's.

Bartholomew was one of the 12 Apostles. In Christian tradition he is known as the unfortunate saint who was skinned alive.

Michelangelo's Jesus has a thick body.

At centre bottom the angels blow the horns loudly to wake the dead from their sleep.

To the right of Jesus is St. Peter with the white beard; he holds a key to heaven.

SOUTHERN WALL: STORIES OF MOSES

(PAINTED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Moses Leaving Egypt

The Trials of Moses

The Crossing of the Red Sea

Descent from Mount Sinai

Punish-ment of the Rebels

Testament and Death of Moses

NORTHERN WALL: STORIES OF JESUS

(PAINTED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Baptism of Christ

Tempta-tion of Christ

Calling of The Apostles

Sermon on the Mount

Delivery of the Keys

The Last Supper

EASTERN WALL

Disputation over Moses’ Body

The Resurr-ection of Christ

THE END