Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling

The talk of the Rome and the surrounding city states since it’s unveiling on All Saints Day last year, Michelangelo Bunorrotios magnificent Sistine Chapel ceiling does not disappoint. Commissioned by a Vientiane noble to visit and report on the ceiling, I got the chance to see Michelangelo’s work during the New Year Eve’s service of 1512. A beautiful choir, packed pews, and an inspired sermon set the stage for a wonderful mass that evening. However, these items quickly became ancillary once I was able to get the whole of the ceiling in my sight. The massive fresco is truly breathtaking. The following notes detail the history and significance of the piece, while also providing a detailed analysis of the work’s compositional aspects. For those

However, Pope Julius II, regarded throughout our time as one of the most powerful popes in recent memory, was not particularly fond of the expressionless ceiling. Seeking to convey his growing power after a series of military victories from 1500-1506, Julius began to consider having the ceiling repainted. Such a task, while seemingly enormous, certainly must have appeared minor when compared to his recent commission for New Saint Peters just seven short years ago. Fond of Michelangelo’s past work, who is by now well-known across the entire Italian peninsula for his Pieta and David, Julius II selected Michelangelo to repaint the ceiling. While the artist was not particularly fond of the task, Michelangelo grudgingly accepted the commission in 1508, and blessed us with his the completed version of his divinely inspired work in

These figures can be found throughout the ceiling, although the main focus of the fresco is its nine large images at the ceilings apex, which extend from chapel doors to the altar. In reverse order these images depict the fall of man, beginning with a set of three images of Noah, followed by depictions of Adam and Eve and lastly, three images depicting God’s initial creation. Surrounding these central, colorful, polychromic-like images, are several angelic-like Ignudi. These are finished in a monochrome color, as are the image’s surrounding borders, which Michelangelo did in a grisaille-like manner, giving portions of the ceiling a definite sculptural aspect. At the periphery of the nine central images are panels which alternate in depicting biblical prophets and ancient female Sibyls, all of who are ascribed to have prophesized the coming of the messiah. In the four corners of the ceiling, pendentives depict scenes from Biblical stories that are associated with the salvation of Israel by four great male and female heroes. Surrounding and amongst these various aspects of the ceiling, several other smaller images depicting various biblical stories can be found. Thus, viewing each of these images individually it becomes quite evident that a biblical theme defines the composition of the chapel ceiling,