Interior of the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel
Interior of the Sistine Chapel
| The Sistine Chapel was
built between 1475 and 1480 and by 1483 the decoration of
the walls, entrusted to Perugino, was complete. Perugino
began with the wall behind the altar, and also painted
the now lost Annunciation. In 1481 he was joined
by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio and Cosimo
Rosselli, and in the following year by Luca Signorelli,
who finished the work. The frescos are on three levels:
on the first, painted tapestries, on the second, stories
from the lives of Christ and Moses, and above this, a
series of portraits of the popes. The three popes (1848 - 1503) who succeeded Sixtus IV made no alteration to the chapel, but Julius II decided to have the ceiling frescos by Michelangelo. The artist did no received the commission with any great pleasure, but nonetheless began work in May 1508. By September 1510 half the work was done, and on 14 August 1511 the Pope insisted that it should be unveiled. By October of the following year the work was finished, and an All Saint's Day Julius II inaugurated it with a solemn mass. The initial plan had consisted of twelve enormous figures of the Apostles, but the artist had reject this plan as unworthy. |
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| Given complete freedom of action,
Michelangelo proceeded to create a monumental painted
architectural structure which entirely covered the real
ceiling, without striving to achieve a "Trompe
l'oeil" effect. In the nine large spaces thus
created he painted episodes from Genesis, from the Creation
to Noah's Drunkenness. In the corners of
each scene are the so-called "Ignudi", and in
the spaces between the side lunettes seven Prophets
alternate with five Sibyls. In the four corners of the
ceiling, he painted the stories of David and Goliath,
Judith and Holofernes, the Punishment of Aman and
the Bronze Serpent. In the lunettes above are
the ancestors of Christ, melancholy figures in
expectation of the Messiah. Throughout this monumental
task, Michelangelo refused any help and worked entirely
alone. Twenty-one years later, in 1533, Clement VII called Michelangelo back to Rome to paint the Last Judgement on the wall behind the altar, and, in 1534, Paul III confirmed this commission. Once again the artist was very reluctant about the commission and waited two years before beginning the work. In order to make space for Michelangelo's fresco, Perugino's work had to be destroyed. On 31 October 1541, the scaffolding was removed and Paul III celebrated vespers beneath the monumental work, which filled Rome with "wonder and amazement". The unusual location of this subject matter had been suggested by Clement VII, who had wished to commemorate in this way the tragic events of the year 1527, the sack of Rome. |
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