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Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoesSistine Chapel © The Bridgeman Art Library

Sistine Chapel ceiling and altar wall frescoes

Vatican City, Italy. Michelangelo. Ceiling frescoes: c. 1508–1512 C.E.; altar frescoes: c. 1536–1541 C.E. Fresco.

Curator Note

"The supreme monument of High Renaissance painting. Michelangelo, a sculptor, was forced to paint the ceiling, creating a Neoplatonic history of the world from Creation to the Flood, featuring the iconic "Creation of Adam." Decades later, he returned to paint the "Last Judgment" on the wall, a darker, turbulent Mannerist vision reflecting the turmoil of the Reformation."

Form

  • Buon fresco (true fresco).
  • Herculian, sculptural figures (Ignudi).
  • Bright, cangiante colors (shot colors).
  • Complex architectural illusion (trompe l'oeil).
  • Ceiling: Optimistic/Heroic. Wall: Pessimistic/Chaotic.

Function

  • Papal chapel for elections (Conclave).
  • To tell the history of salvation.
  • To glorify the Papacy (Julius II and Paul III).
  • To overwhelm the viewer with the power of God.
  • Universal masterpiece.

Content

  • Ceiling: 9 panels of Genesis (Creation, Adam, Eve, Flood, Noah).
  • Prophets and Sibyls (foretellers of Christ).
  • Creation of Adam: The spark of life/intellect.
  • Last Judgment: Christ as Judge, saints with skin (St. Bartholomew holds Michelangelo's flayed skin).
  • The Damned being dragged to hell.

Context

  • Ceiling painted during High Renaissance (confidence).
  • Wall painted after the Sack of Rome and Reformation (anxiety).
  • Michelangelo hated painting ("I am no painter").
  • Restoration in 1990s revealed bright colors, causing controversy.
  • Modesty breeches added later to cover nudity.