April 28, 2012

• Michelangelo

   As I mentioned previously, our tour guide centered his tour around Michelangelo and told us some interesting stories about him and his art which was on display at the Vatican Museums.

  Michelangelo is known by his first name, sort of like Cher.  His full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. He was born on March 6,  1475, and even in his own lifetime, he was famous as a sculptor and painter.  He loved the human body, and he spent time as a youth dissecting and examining dead bodies. If you compare his work with other artists of the time and a bit previous, the attention to the human form and how it moves and how muscles are shaped is unparalleled.  Michelangelo loved sculpting and thought painting was for “sissies.” So, why did he paint the Sistine Chapel? It’s a good story.

  Meet this guy.

  

  This is Pope Julius II. His nicknames were “The Fearsome Pope” and “The Warrior Pope.” In other words, he was not a doddering, old man. He was elected Pope in 1503, and in 1505, he summoned Michelangelo to come to Rome. The first thing Julius wanted was a tomb for himself. That should have been easy enough for a sculptor like Michelangelo, but it turned into a “forty year nightmare.” M. put in tons of work and drawings and searched for just the right marble, and then the Pope stopped work on the tomb.  M was pretty ticked and left in a huff.  

  In 1508, Julius II summoned M. again, this time to decorate the Sistine Chapel.  Michelangelo was less than thrilled. First of all, he didn’t like painting. Second of all, he feared it was a set-up by his enemies. It was a major project, and the Pope and he did not get along. If he failed to complete the work or the Pope didn’t like it, well…

   

  

   

   Michelangelo agreed to do the job. He was originally just supposed to paint the twelve apostles, but he was later given the freedom to paint what he wanted. He chose scenes from the Old and New Testaments. It was said that “Michelangelo read and reread the Old Testament while he was painting the ceiling, drawing his inspiration from the words of the scripture, rather than from the established traditions of sacral art.” 

  

  His first paintings, Noah and his sons, for example, were too small when viewed from the floor, so the later paintings have less detail and larger figures.  

  Michelangelo did the ceiling and the rear wall (which is where the door tourists enter is located. It’s dead ahead in this picture.) The side walls were painted by other famous painters of the time. 

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  The most famous image on the ceiling is of God’s creation of man. 

  

   

  It’s been re-created for years in many contexts. Sometimes imperfectly, but oh well!

       

  At one point, Michelangelo was painting, and the Pope came into inspect. M. came down from his scaffolding, and the Pope sort of reamed him out about why did he do this or not do that. Michelangelo got really mad and told the Pope off. Maybe you can tell off some popes, but not The Warrior Pope. Julius II punched Michelangelo in the cheek with the hand that had his big ring on it. For the rest of his life, Michelangelo had a scar and a sunken-in cheek.  You can sort of see it in this picture by Raphael of young Raphael and Michelangelo. 

  

   

  Our guide said that Michelangelo showed how he felt about the Pope in this painting on the ceiling. 

  

   

  The back wall of the chapel was a later commission for Michelangelo. (The Pope was impressed with the ceiling, bare bottoms excepted.)  M. painted the last judgement with Christ in the center. Our guide told us that Michelangelo, who was really into bodies, chose the most perfect sculptures upon which to model his painting of Christ. 

   

  

  He chose Laocoön’s arm (which if you remember was still missing at the time).

  

   

  He chose the Belvedere Torso. It’s a fragment of a Greek statue believed to be of Heracles. 

  

   

  And the face of Apollo. 

  

   

  There are some other stories about this fresco, but I want to tell you another story!  

  

   

  This one is about the Pieta. 

   

  

  Michelangelo sculpted this masterpiece when he was 23 years old. It’s one of the few pieces he signed. One day, a group of artists were standing around looking at it. Michelangelo said to them, “Do you know who sculpted this?”  One of the men said, “It was done by one of the masters from Milan.” This upset Michelangelo so much, he took a hammer and chisel and carved his name on the sash that runs across Mary’s body.

  This statue has had criticism because Mary looks so young and Christ, who should not fit on her lap at all, fits so well.  Our guide told us that what this statue is supposed to be is Mary holding her infant son on her lap. She had a vision of what would happen to him. Her face is serene, knowing all is in God’s hands.  That is why Mary is young and Christ fits like he does. The statue is incredibly detailed. It’s behind glass at St. Peter’s, but they had a model of it at the Vatican Museums so you could get close to it. 

  I am sure there are dozens of other stories of Michelangelo that could be told, but that’s enough for now. 

  • 8:35 am
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