Ross King's purpose in writing this book is to detail Michelangelo's magnificent struggle with personal, political, and artistic difficulties during the painting of the Sistine ceiling. He also gives an engaging portrait of society and politics during the early sixteenth century. King uses a straightforward approach to describe the events surrounding the creation of the Sistine ceiling. The order of events is mostly chronological. When King feels he should clarify or explain a brief part of history or a concept we may not be familiar with, King explains the idea briefly and then continues at the point where he left off. This became confusing when King discusses a variety of wars that were in progress during the early 1500's. Even a person …show more content…
who might be interested in the creation of the Sistine Ceiling but has no prior knowledge about it may find the book confusing and difficult to read because of its intense detail. Michelangelo’s strange behaviors, problems with the pope, demands of his home life, controversial sexuality, difficult childhood, and his astounding level of intelligence would all make for entertaining opportunities for discussion.
For example, though Michelangelo was not an engineer, he managed to create an effective design for the scaffolding. King cites Gilbert as stating, “...[Michelangelo’s] design for the scaffold ultimately produced a sort of bridge, or rather a series of foot bridges that spanned the chapel from the level of the windows” (King 52). This design proved to be successful and once again showed just how bright Michelangelo was. Over the course of four years working on the Sistine Chapel Michelangelo painted twelve figures which were of seven prophets and five sibyls (female prophets of myth) around the border of the ceiling he painted scenes from Genesis. Moreover, the most famous Sistine Chapel painting was the creation of Adam. Personally, I felt overwhelmed at times with the excessive detail and explanation which I felt were irrelevant to the book for instance, King states, “Pozzolana should, then, have made for a plaster ideally suited to the weather or Rome as the tramontana swept down from the Alps” (King 103). King does not clearly explain what pozzolana or tramontana are. Therefore, he assumes the reader
knows. Some explanations are a bit confusing or hard to understand because of the excessive amount of details provided by King. One section of the book that immediately comes to mind is the explanation of the process of frescoing. King means well by breaking the process down into small bits of information. However, the over simplification causes the entire idea to be too much to comprehend. This book is simply too long to fully appreciate and enjoy. There are various points throughout the book that seem unnecessarily long and drawn out. I had a hard time grasping the idea of the wars that were going on between the cities. There were too many King Richards and Pope Julius’s mentioned in the book which made it difficult to keep track of which ruler went with what town and which town was mad at what other town. In my opinion this book coveys important and timeless lessons in how difficult it is to create lasting and often differentiating impressions without compromising ones values.
What impressed me most about the book was the incredible detail he used to describe people, places, events, and things. As I said, some people may find all this detail to be tedious. I however think that it was important to have such details to paint an accurate picture of ancient Rome.
With the different styles of artists’ works planned to be showcased in this exhibition I hope viewers will be able to see what sorts of artworks were being done during the Renaissance that do not consist of works done by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Donatello, or Raphael. With a topic not usually covered when studying about Renaissance artist, I hope viewers will be able to not only learn about the interesting stories of famous Martyrdoms, but also learn about some of the lesser known Renaissance artists and their styles. Paintings of angles and landscapes from the Renaissance may look pretty but with these different and shocking pieces I hope to create an exhibition that will not soon fade away from visitor’s memories after they leave the National Gallery.
A rediscover of their history and recognition of early Greek philosophers changed the way that the influential families and Princes, in Italy, considered themselves. Their way of thinking of the Devine and need to promote one’s own aspirations through sponsorship of the arts, as well as, civic duty became not only fashionable but important to progress in the city states. Although Donatello’s David and Botticelli’s Primavera are master pieces in their own right, their influence on future generations of artists cannot be ignored. The spark that ignited the fire which we call the Renaissance was a transformation of societies thinking and values to a Humanistic approach to one duties to society and the church. These two works are a reflection of the changing attitudes which would eventually change all of
Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling, page 73). What this sentence is basically saying is that the whole painting of the Sistine chapel was meant to embody the ideas of the religious mentality that was embedded into the minds of the people during the renaissance period. When Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the celling of the Sistine chapel, he wanted it to solely represent the ideals and teachings of the church, however Michelangelo portrayed some of his own thoughts into the art. Examples of this can be found all over the painting the last testament and in the book titled Michelangelo A Life in Six Masterpieces by Miles J. Unger, upon examination of the painting it is possible to see on the bottom right hand corner the Pope himself with a snake wrapped around him and being dragged to hell. Historians believed that Michelangelo painted the Pope in this way because he did not agree with the way Pope Julius II was running the church, Michelangelo and the Pope often disagreed on many different occasions whether it be on religion or just the way he talked to Michelangelo. Throughout the last testament Michelangelo actually painted homosexual men all around the painting, and he did not paint them burning in hell, instead he painted them in heaven along with Jesus
During the Renaissance, people were dedicated to studying human works. They would observe from real life to gain inspiration, new ideas, and to try to recreate the world as they saw it in their art. New techniques such as scientific and atmospheric perspective were created, changing art forever. Artists would use their skills to create works for patrons, from the Church, various guilds, and other religious orders. During the High Renaissance, Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Vatican Palace. The first of the rooms he decorated was The “Room of the Signature”, where he painted The School of Athens. Originally, this room housed Julius II’s personal library, but later on it would be the room where papal documents were signed. In 1508, Raphael began painting four frescoes that represented theology, philosophy, law, and the arts. As stated in Janson’s History of Art Volume II, This fresco “represents a summation of High Renaissance humanism, for it attempts to represent the unity of knowledge in one grand scheme.” Raphael’s The School of Athens is a prime example of humanistic art, as evidenced by the subject of the art itself, the classical elements in the piece, and it’s scientific and illusionistic rendering.
Alessandro Allori reproduces the view of a young man in 3/4s view in his portrait of Francesco de Medici (c. 1560). Every element of the portrait, from its dominant red key to the intricate gold embroidery of the sitter’s costume connotes virtue.This rectangular composition presents a young virtuous man deserving of his power and wealth. More importantly, it exposes the attitudes of the painter and patron as towards what virtues qualified a man as deserving privilege and power.
4).14 Painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo’s series represent several narratives from the bible. This painting is considered to be the most outstanding series of illustrations depicting biblical stories that were ever produced. It has also been suggested that the figures in the frescoes reflect Michelangelo’s personal Humanist philosophies. He believed that “the body should be celebrated as a reflection of both divine beauty and the beauty of the human soul”.15 The Creation of Adam, in particular, demonstrates the exact moment when God stretches out his finger and gives life to Adam, the first human. In this image, Adam on the left is portrayed completely nude as he sits languidly on the Earth. On the right, God’s presence appears assertive while he floats amongst several biblical figures in the sky. As their fingers do not touch, it is indicated that Adam is yet to receive the gift of intellect and
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art – Ninth Edition. Michelangelo 1475-1564. Page 371. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
In April 1508 Pope Julius II hired Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (McNeese 87). The Sistine Chapel was where major papal ceremonies took place (Summers 11). Although Julius II just wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the chapel Michelangelo had bigger ideas. By 1513, Michelangelo had around 340 figures on the ceiling of the chapel.
In this paper I'm focusing mainly on Renaissance art work, since that was the assignment, but I feel it's important to also mention the other important parts of the Renaissance, architecture, science, politics and religion.
As time went on Michelangelo goes on the create some of the best Statues and paintings known to man today. Aside from his “artistic” life Michelangelo was also an architect and a poet, he designed buildings such as the Laurentian Library and the Medici Chapel, but his biggest accomplishment came in 1546, became the head architect of Peter’s Basilica. For him when it came it poetry, he wrote over 300 poems that have come to be known as “Michelangelo's sonnets,” which are still read by people to this day. Even Though, he is known for his memorable sculptures and paintings, Michelangelo did not have the best personality. He was short-tempered, so he did not really work well with others, when Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he fired all of his workers, because he wanted everything to the peak of perfection. A lot Michelangelo’s works did remain unfinished, but the ones that he did complete are still some of the best in history; from Pieta, David, The Last Judgement, to the ceiling
Michelangelo was born in a time in which the church had a great influence on most things that people did in their everyday life. He grew up in a wealthy family and was exposed to people of high position. The paintings and sculptures that Michelangelo created were strongly related to the Bible, and showed his respect and knowledge of the religion and culture he was brought up in. Starting with the Sistine Chapel ceiling, it has paintings that start with the creation of the world all the way to the flood and drunkenness of Noah. Michelangelo took four years to paint the ceiling and broke down different aspects of the earlier parts of the Bible throughout the ceiling. The most prominent paintings that are on the ceiling would have to be where God’s hand reaches out to Adam’s hand. This shows that Michelangelo views man and God as having a relationship where they know each other. Man can reach out to God, while God reaches down to man. With that being said, I believe this shows that the way in which man encounters God in this painting was a form of the ontological type. In ...
In the article “Conditions of Trade,” Michael Baxandall explains the interaction serving of both fifteenth- century Italian painting and text on how the interpretation of social history from the style of pictures in a historical period, pre-eminently examine the early Renaissance painting. Baxandall looks not only on the explanation of how the style of painting is reflected in a society, but also engages in the visual skills and habits that develop out of daily life. The author examines the central focus on markets, material visual practices, and the concept of the Renaissance period overlooking art as an institution. He observes a Renaissance painting, which relate the experience of activities such as preaching, dancing, and assessing. The author considers discussions of a wide variety of artistic painters, for instance, Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and numerous others. He defines and exemplifies concepts used in contemporary critic of the painting, and in the assembled basic equipment needed to discover the fifteenth- century art. Therefore this introductory to the fifteenth- century Italian painting and arise behind the social history, argues that the two are interconnected and that the conditions of the time helped shape the distinctive elements in the artists painting style. Through the institutional authorization Baxandall looks at integration in social, cultural and visual evaluation in a way that shows not only the visual art in social construction, but how it plays a major role in social orders in many ways, from interaction to larger social structural orders.
The main debate on the restoration of the Chapel was, “had Michelangelo modified his finished fresco with secco paint after the plaster had dried?” and if he had, “did the restorer’s removal of every layer down to the frescoed plaster falsified the artist’s intentions?”
The motivation for artwork in the Magi Chapel represents a fascinating amalgamation of politics, pride, and prowess. At it’s simplest level, it is a tribute to the cunning, skill, and power of Piero’s father, Cosimo I. The depiction of the Magi serves as a reminder of a great political triumph for the family at the Council of Florence in 1439. Here, the wealth and quick action of Cosimo had saved the Council of Ferrara from dissolving when that city was struck by plague.