Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes are the most easily recognized pieces of art from the Renaissance period. Its representations of scenes from the Bible have become cultural icons from the Creation of Adam to the Last Judgment. It all started when Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to repaint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was hesitant to carry out this task because he was primarily a sculptor. This can be seen in his sculptures such as David and the Pieta. Eventually, Michelangelo consented and the rest is history.
Michelangelo commenced painting in 1508 and concluded in 1512. He started off with painting the fresco by the entrance of the chapel which featured Noah. However, he noticed that the figures he painted were too small for the ceiling, so he decided to paint bigger figures. Michelangelo created the primary Old Testament scene by painting a fictive molding as well as auxiliary statues throughout the chapel. There are a certain set of figures under the fictive molding, namely, people from the Old Testament such as Josiah and David. There are also sets of Old Testament prophets as well as sibyls, or prophets from Greek mythology, who foretell the coming of Jesus Christ.
One interesting thing about Michelangelo’s frescoes is that in the Creation of Adam, the figure of God has a similitude to a brain with a precise anatomical structure. Another example of the mixture of anatomy and art in Michelangelo’s paintings can be found in “The Separation of Light and Darkness” fresco. In this section, one can see a human brain stem. Michelangelo had a keen interest in human anatomy. He even studied cadavers to help him better understand the human body. He also would have a knowledge of the human brain.
My reaction to Michelangelo’s frescoes is one of awe and amazement. I find the representations of the human body to be very realistic. If one studies Renaissance art, he/she will learn that artists wanted to return to classical art tradition which featured an accurate representation of human bodies. In the 1980s, the frescoes went through a hefty restoration process after centuries of being covered in soot from chimneys. The people who restored them did a grand job in restoring them. The frescoes look as if they were freshly painted. The depth and hue of the figures look very realistic, I think it is like looking at a 3-D picture.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20127765
http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-sistine-chapel
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