Preview

The Sistine Chapel

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
561 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Sistine Chapel
Rachael Billingsley
Ms. Jonte
PreAP English 9-TB: 1
29 November, 2012
The Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel, one of the most iconic pieces of work Michelangelo ever did, and one of the most popular destinations in Rome. All of the ceiling and walls are covered in beautiful artwork. The panels done by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, Biagio di Antonio, Bartolomeo della Gatta and Luca Signorelli (de Strobel) stand out, showing the stories of Moses and Christ. The ceiling of the chapel originally done by Pier Matteo d 'Amelia looked like a starry night. Then the nephew of Sixtus IV, Julius II della Rovere, brought in Michelangelo Buonarroti to alter the ceiling. Michelangelo was modest at first, nothing too special, but soon he altered how traditional ceiling painting was done. He created dramatic scenes that paved the way for other artists, setting a standard. He painted nine stories from the book of Genesis, with 12 male and female prophets. He created three Noah scenes and for 4 years he worked through three Adam stories to three Creation stories on the other end of the ceiling. Then he paused for a few months halfway along. This was when Michelangelo did Pieta and David. His style then started to change, which was visible in those sculptures. Finally, the Pope threatened that if Michelangelo did not finish the ceiling quickly he would have him thrown down from the scaffolding. Then Michelangelo, who had good reason to fear the Pope 's anger, lost no time in doing all that was wanted (Cast). When he returned to the ceiling he used a different technique, as in the Creation of Adam When the ceiling was finished in 1512 Michelangelo returned to his previous works, like the tomb of Julius ("Michelangelo Buonarroti."). The impact of The Sistine Chapel was great. It changed how many painters worked and saw things. Michelangelo’s works on the ceiling of the chapel set the standard of how things should be done and



Cited: de Strobel , Anna Maria, Ester Console, Maurizio Sannibale, and Lorenzo Nigro. "The Sistine Chapel." Vatican Museums. The Vatican Museums. Web. 7 Dec 2012. <http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Storia.html>. Cast, David. "Finishing The Sistine." Art Bulletin 73.4 (1991): 669. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. "Michelangelo Buonarroti." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 2-5. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    While although Pope Leo X eventually cancelled the San Lorenzo project, Michelangelo’s labors are the labors of countless others who risked life and limb to get the marble out of the ground and transport it across land and water is truly worth noting. We rightly marvel at the great works of architecture from the pre-industrial world. We extol their design, their ingenuity in construction, and their durability. Perhaps we ought to marvel more that they even got any stone to the…

    • 82 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    • Lorenzo Ghiberti, “Gates of Paradise” (East Doors), Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, 1425-1452, gilt bronze, height 15’…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    AP EURO SEMESTER FINAL REVIEW

    • 13928 Words
    • 37 Pages

    4) Fillippo Brunelleschi: Italian architect and engineer, designer of the dome of the Cathedral of Florence, or la Duomo…

    • 13928 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Michelangelo was commissioned twice to work on the Sistine Chapel in Vatican during his lifetime. In 1508 he began the painting of the “Genesis” on the ceiling of the chapel for the pope, and after twenty-eight years he was forced to paint the Last Judgment on the altar wall.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed” (Michelangelo). Michelangelo was one of the great artist who created great art during the Renaissance period. One of his most popular paintings is the Ceiling from the Sistine Chapel with the Creation of Adam being the main focal point. Art in the Renaissance period was more focused on the aspects of realism, humanism, and the prospective of what was created. Leonardo da Vinci was perhaps the most interesting artist of the Renaissance period; with that, he still holds presumably the most idealized painting in the world today, priced upwards of $1 Billion the Mona Lisa. Both…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ap Euro Renaissance Terms

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Botticelli: One of the leading painters of the Florentine renaissance, developed a highly personal style. The Birth of Venus…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Critics suggest that the way Michelangelo depicts the prophet Ezekiel as strong yet stressed, determined yet unsure is symbolic of Michelangelo’s sensitivity to the intrinsic complexity of the human condition. The most famous Sistine Chapel ceiling painting is the emotion-infused The Creation of Adam, in which God and Adam outstretch their hands to one another. Michelangelo continued to sculpt and paint until his death, although he increasingly worked on architectural projects as he aged: His work from 1520 to 1527 on the interior of the Medici Chapel in Florence included wall designs, windows and cornices that were unusual in their design as well as proportions and introduced startling variations on classical forms. Michelangelo also designed the iconic dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Among his other masterpieces are Moses The Last Judgment and Day, Night, Dawn and Dusk. From the 1530s on, Michelangelo wrote poems; about 300 survive. Many incorporate the philosophy of Neo-Platonism–that a human soul, powered by love and ecstasy, can reunite with an almighty God—ideas that had been the subject of intense discussion while he was an adolescent living in Lorenzo de’ Medici’s household. After he left Florence permanently in 1534 for Rome, Michelangelo also wrote many…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    History suggests that Raphael was clearly influenced by Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling in the course of painting the room. Vasari said Bramante let him in secretly, and the scaffolding was taken down in 1511 from the first completed section. The reaction of other artists to the daunting force of Michelangelo was…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Michelangelo de Buonarotti, a painter, sculptor, architect and poet was born in 1475 in Tuscany, Italy. At the age of twelve, he began studying under Domenico Ghirlandajo, who was the most fashionable painter in Florence at that time. After that he went to work with Bertoldo di Givoanni, the sculptor and it was then that Michelangelo discovered the style that would become his life’s work. His most famous statues include the eighteen foot David and the Pieta, but he did many other sculptures and tombs. Michelangelo has been described as an uneven tempered, mistrusting and lonely man. It has been said that he lacked confidence in his physical appearance and had poor interpersonal skills. Michelangelo who regarded himself as a sculptor first and foremost, almost refused to paint the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius II had decided that only Michelangelo could complete this work of art which would help restore Rome to its former glory and persuaded him to do so by bribing him with the promise of his sculpting 40 massive figures for his future tomb.…

    • 1248 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over the countless master pieces that Michelangelo produced, he was fixated on the Male body and its youthful dominance. Most of many models that Michelangelo used were youthful men. He would accentuate muscular curvature in the biceps, Forearm, stomach, legs and neck line. Scholars would argue that Michelangelo was homosexual, do to the many nude male figures and sculptures he had created. He rarely showed women as feminine and would use the male figure, such as this Ignudo at the upper left corner of the Drunkenness of Noah (above the prophet Joel). As you can see the only distinction between man and women can be only seen by the breast, hair and genitalia.…

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Michelangelo had several successes in his life of painting, architecture, and sculpting. He was a leading figure of baroque and renaissance art. His first large-scale sculpture was Bacchus. Around the same year of 1498, Michelangelo did the marble Pieta, which is the only work he ever signed. In 1536, Michelangelo started the Last Judgment for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.…

    • 1527 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Michelangelo started painting the chapel commisioned to paint only the twelve disciples on the ceiling. The final product yielded over 300 figures. The basic mindset that Michelangelo had while painting the ceiling was extravagance and perfection. The ceiling had originally been painted with a blue sky and gold stars. That…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Before Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel he did other beautiful works of art. First Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Tuscany. His mother had died when he was six, and his father was serving for the Florentine government agent (Orleans). It must have been hard for a boy so young to lose his mother but that doesn’t stop him from becoming anything but incredibly talented. After Michelangelo finished school he was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to Domencio Ghirlandio (Orleans). Domencio Ghirlandio was one of the most stylish painters in Florence (Orleans). Michelangelo must have been a really good sculptor and painter for him to apprentice, at the age of thirteen, with one of the best painters of Florence. Michelangelo had originally got his fame from him being a sculptor (“Italian”). He painted sculptors of Pieta and David. He was one of the best sculptors of the Italian Renaissance. One quote by Michelangelo says, ‘“The greater danger for most of us…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Michelangelo Pieta

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Another element of this sculpture that I find beautiful is the way Michelangelo sculpted the Virgin Mary’s robe. It almost seems as if her clothes are not made of marble. Every crease in her robe is sculpted with such precision and detail. I do not know where Michelangelo found the patience to complete this piece. What most people could not achieve in a lifetime Michelangelo achieved in a year. He created a…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sistine Chapel Ceiling

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page

    During the same period, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took approximately four years to complete The composition stretches over 500 square meters of ceiling, and contains over 300 figures. At its centre are nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus. Among the most famous paintings on the ceiling are The Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Deluge, the Prophet Jeremiah and the Cumaean Sibyl.…

    • 125 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays

Related Topics