Transcript SISTINE CHAPEL - BENVENUTO

THE SISTINE CHAPEL
THE SISTINE CHAPEL
The Chapel has the dimension of the Temple of
Solomon, as given in the Old Testament.
A holy place
The Conclave for the election of the Supreme
Pontiff is held in the Chapel. His Holiness John
Paul II underlined the primary importance of the
Sistine Chapel in the life of the Church: "The
Sistine Chapel is the place that, for each Pope,
holds the memory of a special day in his life. ...
Precisely here, in this sacred space, the
Cardinals gather, awaiting the manifestation of
the will of Christ with regard to the person of the
Successor of St Peter [...]”.
The Story
• The Sistine Chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV della
Rovere (pontiff from 1471 to 1484).
• the old Cappella Magna was restored between 1477 and 1480.
The 15th century decoration of the walls includes: the false drapes,
the Stories of Moses and of Christ and the portraits of the Popes It
was executed by a team of painters made up initially of Pietro
Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo
Rosselli,
• On the Ceiling Pier Matteo d'Amelia painted a starry sky. The work
on the frescoes began in 1481 and was concluded in 1482
• .On 15 August 1483, Sixtus IV
consecrated the new chapel
dedicating it to Our Lady of
the Assumption.
THE CEILING
Julius II della Rovere (pontiff from 1503 to 1513),
nephew of Sixtus IV, decided to partly alter the
decoration.
In 1508 Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the
Ceiling and, on the upper part of the walls, the
lunettes. The work was finished in October 1512 and
on the Feast of All Saints (1 November), Julius II
inaugurated the Sistine Chapel with a solemn Mass.
The ceiling illustrates that God made the
World as a perfect creation and put
humanity into it, humanity fell into disgrace
and was punished by death, and by
separation from God. God sent Prophets
and Sibyls to tell humanity that Christ,
Jesus, would bring them redemption. God
prepared a lineage of people, all the way
from Adam, through various characters
written of in the Old Testament, such as
King David, to the Virgin Mary through
whom the Saviour of humanity, Jesus,
would come.
The Ceiling is divided in nine central panels.
They show the Stories of Genesis, from
the Creation to the Fall of man, to the
Flood and the subsequent rebirth of
mankind with the family of Noah.
THE CREATION OF STARS AND PLANETS
THE CREATION OF ADAM
THE EXPULSION OF ADAM AND EVE
THE GREAT FLOOD
• Reference to the first letter of Peter is
likely. In this the water of the flood is
seen as a prophetic sign of the water
of Baptism, from which a new
mankind emerges, that of those
saved by Christ.
• In the spaces between the webs we
see, seated on monumental thrones,
five Sibyls and seven Prophets.
THE PERSIAN SIBYL
JEREMIAH
Cuman Sybil
THE PROPHET ISAHIA
EZECHIEL AND ERYTHREAN SYBIL
• Christ's forefathers are portrayed
in the eight Webs and in the
Lunettes (north wall, south wall,
entrance wall).
SALOMON
• Finally, in the four corner Pendentives, the
artist illustrated some episodes of the
miraculous salvation of the people of
Israel.
THE IGNUDI
• The Ignudi are the 20 athletic, nude males
that Michelangelo painted as supporting
figures at the four corners of the five
smaller narrative scenes of central part of
the ceiling. The meaning of these figures
has never been clear. They are certainly in
keeping with the Humanist acceptance of
the classical Greek view that “the man is
the measure of all things”.
TWO DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES OF THE CHAPEL
THE LAST
JUDGEMENT
• The composition is centred around the
dominant figure of Christ. It is the moment
before the verdict of the Last Judgement .
His calm imperious gesture seems to
command attention and from it starts a
wide slow rotary movement in which all the
figures are involved.
• Next to Christ is the Virgin. She turns her head
because she can no longer intervene in the
decision, but only await the result of the
Judgement. The Saints and the Elect are around
Christ and the Virgin, also anxiously await the
verdict. Some of them can be easily recognized:
St Peter with the two keys, St Bartholomew with
his own skin which is usually recognized as
being a self-portrait of Michelangelo, St
Catherine of Alexandria with the cogwheel and
St Sebastian holding the arrows.
• Excluded are the two upper lunettes with
groups of angels bearing in flight the
symbols of the Passion (on the left the
Cross, the nails and the crown of thorns;
on the right the column of the scourging,
the stairs and the spear with the sponge
soaked in vinegar).
• In the lower section there
are the angels of the
Apocalypse who are
wakening the dead to the
sound of trumpets.
• On the left the bodies ascend towards
heaven (Resurrection of the flesh), on the
right angels and devils fight and the
damned fall down to hell.
• Finally, at the bottom Charon with his
oars, together with his devils, makes the
damned get out of his boat to lead them
before the infernal judge Minos, whose
body is wrapped in the coils of the serpent.
The reference in this part to the Inferno of
Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia is
clear.
Opinions and Reactions
• As well as praise, the Last Judgement also caused
violent reactions among the contemporaries. For
example the Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena
said that "it was most dishonest in such an honoured
place to have painted so many nude figures who so
dishonestly show their shame and that it was not a work
for a Chapel of the Pope but for stoves and taverns" (G.
Vasari, Le Vite). The controversies, that continued for
years, led in 1564 to the decision by the Congregation of
the Council of Trent to have some of the figures of the
Judgement that were considered "obscene" covered.
The task of painting the covering drapery, the so-called
"braghe" (pants) was given to Daniele da Volterra, since
then known as the "braghettone". Daniele's "braghe"
were only the first and in fact others were added in the
following centuries.