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| michelangelo.com |
I've been studying a richly illustrated book on the refurbished Sistine Chapel. It's entitled
The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration, by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. It not only documents the cleaning of the ceiling, but it also provides loads of information on the whole history of the original project.
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| muohio.edu |
Before Michelangelo painted the ceiling, it looked like this, with a flat blue color and an arrangement of stars. You can see clearly in this engraving that the structure of the ceiling is vaulted, which of course means that all the surfaces curve inward.
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| The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration |
Michelangelo wanted his images to be read as though they were on a flat surface, so he distorted the perspective of the painted architectural elements. With painted columns and an inner "crown moulding," he reconfigured the ceiling so that it would be viewed thusly:
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| click to enlarge | wga.hu |
If you click to enlarge, an interesting thing to note is that Michelangelo worked from the back of the chapel towards the front and altar (or from left to right in this photo) — and as he did so, his figures became much larger. It's believed that Michelangelo did this so that the viewer's first impression would be that all the figures were the same size.
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| Jonah, before and after restoration | The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration |
The posture of Jonah (it's a good guess that Michelangelo never saw a whale) masterfully completes the illusion of flatness. By having Jonah lean backwards, Michelangelo denied the curvature of the ceiling and convinces us that the niche is a flat surface.
Another note of interest about the Sistine Chapel ceiling is that, according to some sources, Michelangelo had never before painted a fresco. He delayed the project until artists from Florence arrived in Rome to teach him the method of painting on wet plaster.
We should all have such first efforts!
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Hello Mark:
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely fascinating and particularly the way in which the figures vary in size, something about which we were completely unaware. The way in which Jonah is depicted leaning backwards in order to give the impression of flatness is quite remarkable. Such an amazing effect which really does deceive the eye. The Abrams' book sounds to be a very goodly possession.
Hello Jane and Lance:
DeleteNow that I see the figures increase in size, I wonder whether Michelangelo was making a sort of revision, or whether this was another illusion. Probably the latter, because Michelangelo knew that the ceiling would be viewed by most people with Jonah in the distance.
And the more closely I look at photographs of the room, the more evident it is that Michelangelo intended all the figures to appear the same in size when people first entered the chapel (further away from the larger figures).
DeleteFascinating! I haven't been there since I was a student, but if asked if the ceiling was flat, I would have said yes.
ReplyDeleteHello DC,
DeleteMichelangelo is described as a sculptor, painter, architect and poet. I would add that he, along with many of the masters of his time, was a good mathematician.
All I can say is WOW. Unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteHi, Steve _ I don't know about you, but the restored ceiling makes me want to reread Irving Stone's "The Agony and the Ecstasy!"
DeleteHi Mark, You really got me started on this. Now I'll have to find some higher resolution photos of the ceiling so I can see the details better. In the shot you provided of the whole ceiling, what I noticed was all the extreme poses and motion in the figures, some of which are almost contorted. I can't see the vaulting in that photo, but I wonder how much the curved lines formed by the torsos and legs (especially of the figures on the pedestals) were meant to disguise the vaulting as well as lead the eye around the composition.
ReplyDelete--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Parnassus - Years ago I saw an old silent news clip of Andrew Carnegie shaking hands with another celebrity, and clever man that he was, Carnegie took advantage of the new medium by winding up his shake as though he were about to pitch a baseball. I wonder whether Michelangelo also made exaggerated gestures to get the most out of his medium, which was constrained not only by extreme curvature, but also by distance. I have a theory that he knew that static figures would look even more static from a distance.
ReplyDeleteDear Mark, There was so much controversy attached to the decision to clean Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. Having seen the before and after I am so glad that this enormous undertaking was accomplished. In the before, Michelangelo's genius could not be appreciated. It's interesting that Michelangelo worked from left to right, he must have been right handed. Now that you have pointed out this fascinating re-arrangement of scale and size I want to go back to admire again and again.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina - I was looking through some Michelangelo books at my local book store (a family book store that sells new and used books) and I realized how so many of them are now nearly obsolete because of the Sistine Chapel restoration. Incidentally, if you look at the niche into which Jonah is leaning, you'll see that a pre-restoration rectangle was left to show comparison.
DeleteThis is a great post Mark! I had to laugh about him taking a job that he knew nothing about...such is the ego of an artist! Yes, I might have to pull out my diary notes of Michelangelo. He put up with the Pope's indecision, sirocco winds and worksite issues. Did you know when he finished the job, he had not removed his boots in so long, that a layer of dead skin came off with them? Hygiene was not his forte!
ReplyDeleteHi Theresa! I had heard that story about Michelangelo and the layer of dead skin. Maybe it was in the Irving Stone book. He apparently had a phobia of water that extended to taking baths. Not the person I'd want to share the winter with!
DeleteActually something I have seen in the flesh so to speak , after it's restoration.
ReplyDeleteI loved all the technical information. A really interesting post !
Thank you, smr! I envy your visual experience — it must have been breathtaking!
DeleteHello Mark,
ReplyDeleteI did not know this! Pure genius!! I've only seen the Vatican once, and will make a visit next year when we are in Italy. Why do the figures get larger towards the right? Look forward to seeing this again in person!
Loi
Hi, Loi. The figures get bigger from left to right as you look at that particular photograph, but Michelangelo was actually working from the back of the chapel (or the entrance) to the front of the chapel (the altar). I'll edit my post to make that more clear. Michelangelo made the figures larger towards the front of the chapel so that people entering from the back wouldn't get the impression of figures receding in size.
DeleteGotcha! This makes total sense.....he is a genius. Thanks, Mark. I kept looking at the photo yesterday....wondering why Michelangelo did that.
DeleteSuch incredible genius. Mark, do you think there will ever be his like again? Or for that matter, Da Vinci. What was it about that era that brought about such a batch of creative supermen?
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post.
Hello, Yvette.
DeleteThere were any number of factors, I'm sure, including the fact great artists were expected to pass their knowledge down through apprenticeships.
But I think a principal factor was that the consumers of great art, while they may have been merchants, prided themselves as learned men. Lorenzo d'Medici saw promise in Michelangelo when Michelangelo was still a teenager. He invited him into his palace and insisted he join a weekly gathering of four scholars who were regarded as the brightest minds of Italy. They included Marsilio Ficino, who had translated the body of known Egyptian wisdom, and the works of Plato and Aristotle. The group also included Cristoforo Landino, who was advisor to three generations of Medici, an authority on Dante, and a man who had made the works of Pliny, Horace and Virgil accessible by translating them into Italian. Next the group included Angelo Poliziano, who had published in Latin by age ten, translated the first books of Homer's Iliad, and tutored Lorenzo's sons. And then there was Pico della Mirandola, who read and wrote in 22 languages.
These men discussed the nature of art with the young Michelangelo on a weekly basis, made antiquity come alive for him, discussed what he might strive for in art, and tutored him in language.
Would any of today's billionaires do that for an artist?
Dear Mark - this is such an appropriate post for the 500th anniversary of the Sistine ceiling. I have only seen the ceiling following its restoration.
ReplyDeleteVery recently I read a report by a distinguished UK art historian who had an opportunity to get up close to the ceiling during the restoration. He said that what surprised him was the terror on all of the faces that he saw. He particularly mentions the look and expression on the face of the prophet Jonah, which you have shown. I quote 'close up the expression on the face of the prophet Jonah as he leans back in his stone throne is as if he is being attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex'. He noted that close up most of the faces look haunted where as from the ground they merely look anxious.
Pope Julius II who commissioned the painting was known to be crazily arrogant believing himself to be the Messiah.
After I read the article I was left wondering whether there is much more to the Sistine Chapel than we really know, and has Michelangelo left behind hidden messages?
Dear Rosemary,
DeleteThis posting has caused me to go back and reread Irving Stone's "The Agony and the Ecstasy," which I had read when it first was published in the 1960s. What I've come away with is that Michelangelo was often balancing on a tightrope. His earliest mentors, including Lorenzo d'Medici, were interested in the sculpture of antiquity, which they believed was unsurpassed. They saw, even in the very young Michelangelo, the promise of someone who could match that epoch, and they wanted him to recreate the subjects of antiquity, which were pagan. At the same time, Michelangelo witnessed first-hand the hysteria surrounding the sermons of Savonarola, who was prepared to kill for his "pure" vision, and destroy almost anything of beauty.
What I see in Michelangelo's work — and the Sistine Ceiling — is a very skillful and subtle synthesis of Paganism and Christianity, and I have no doubt that there are hidden messages yet to be found within that synthesis.
Fascinating. I didn't know about the scaling of the figures. Adjusting for the curvature of a vaulted ceiling was a necessary skill. Andrea Pozzo famously corrected his design for the ceiling of the Church at San Ignazio too
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alan - Your posting on Andrea Pozzo was another great example of adjusting the curvature of a vaulted ceiling. I'm including the link here:
Deletehttp://surfacefragments.blogspot.com/search?q=Andrea+Pozzo
Just re-read your post. When you say that the figures got larger towards the front of the chapel, does that mean that people would have entered the chapel from the back? (I've never been there unfortunately!) If that's the case I can see how the foreshortening of figures would make them appear the same size optically. I assume he painted them a little smaller directly over your head, and larger as they receded.
DeleteI guess it's kind of the same thing he did when he made David's head larger proportionally, so that viewed from below, it would look correct.
Hi, Alan -
DeleteI have not been to the Sistine Chapel either, but photographs of the room reveal that people enter the chapel facing the Last Judgement, and that the enlarged Jonah is directly over that wall. So you are correct in surmising that Michelangleo used foreshortening to make figures appear the same size. Pretty clever!
Small point, but the text doesn't say Jonah was swallowed by a whale, it says "big fish" (Jonah 2:1).... So M. seems like he knew his Scripture....
ReplyDeleteThank you for that illumination, Rabbi. I'm sure Michelangelo did his homework (and if Pope Julius II were my patron, I would do my homework, too!).
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