The Holy Family ( Michelangelo )

The Holy Family

This picture of the Holy Family is from an oil painting. It shows us a glimpse of the home life of the child Jesus. We have already seen in the bas-relief of the Madonna and Child how thoughtful a mood was sometimes upon the mother and her boy. In this picture they are making merry together. The mother, seated on the ground, tosses the boy with her strong arms, for her husband Joseph to catch. She is a beautiful woman, large, and full of life and vigor. The boy is a healthy, happy child, with perfect confidence in his mother. He rests his fat little hands on her head to steady himself.

Joseph, bald and gray, takes the play a little more seriously, as he gently lifts the boy from the mother's arms. He has a special care for the child. It was he who was warned by an angel in a dream that it was dangerous to remain in Judæa. It was he who "took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt."[13] It was he again who duly brought them back to their native country when the cruel king
was dead who had threatened the child's life. After the return from Egypt Joseph and his family settled in the little town of Nazareth, where he followed the trade of a carpenter.

[Footnote 13: Matthew, chapter ii. verses 13, 14.]

Now Jesus had a cousin, a boy who was not far from the same age. His name was John, and his mission in life was closely connected with that of Jesus. He was to grow up a great preacher, and finally to lead people to Jesus himself. His parents knew before his birth, from an angelic visitation, that he was to be a prophet. His mother Elizabeth, and Mary the mother of Jesus, used to talk together, before their children were born, of the strange future in store for them. We like to think that the two boys grew up as companions and playmates.

It is this little boy John who is seen in the back of the picture, at the right, coming up as if to join the child Jesus in his romp. We see his eager little face, with the long hair blown back from it, just above the coping stone surrounding the garden inclosure which the Holy Family occupy. He carries over his left shoulder a slender reed cross, such as is given him in all the old works of art as a symbol of his prophetic character.

You may say when you look at the picture that this is such a group as you might see any day in some Tuscan village. The people are indeed very plainly of the peasant class, and the artist did not go far out of his way to find his figures. Perhaps he thought this was after all the best way to show that the Holy Family was not unlike other families in enjoying the simple pleasures of home life. We may feel a
closer sense of kinship with them on that account.

In studying the artistic qualities of this picture we have to remember that Michelangelo was more of a sculptor than a painter, and that he went to work upon a painting with the same methods he used in marble.The central figures are grouped in a solid mass as if for a bas-relief, as we may see by comparing this illustration with that of
the Madonna and Child. The mother's arms are so "modelled," to use a critical term, that they seem to start out from the canvas "in the round," just as if cut from marble. The folds of her dress, as well as those of Joseph's garment, are arranged in the long beautiful lines artists call "sculpturesque."

The sculptor's methods are also plainly seen in the peculiarity of his background. In a picture of this kind most painters would have painted there a landscape, but Michelangelo did nothing of the kind. Instead there is a semicircular parapet upon which five slender unclothed youths are playing together. Three sit upon the wall and two lean against it.

The figures bear no relation to the story of the picture. They are introduced merely for the sake of decoration. To Michelangelo there was nothing so beautiful in decoration as the human form. The lines made by different positions of the body trace patterns more beautiful, he thought, than any arabesques. The Greeks had the same idea when they decorated the pediments of their temples with bas-reliefs of nude figures. Applying this principle of sculpture to his painting, Michelangelo arranged these boys so that their slender limbs intertwine in graceful patterns, making a decorative background to fill in the picture. The lightness and delicacy of the design heighten the effect of solidity in the figures of the foreground, giving them the prominence of figures in relief.

MICHELANGELO BY ESTELLE M. HURLL

The Creation of Adam

The Creation of Adam

Science has long been trying to solve the problem of the origin of the human race. Great books are published by learned men to explain how the being called man came to be what he is. But centuries before the beginnings of science a wonderful poem was written on the same subject of the creation. This poem is called Genesis, that is, the Birth or Origin of things, and it forms a part of the first book of our Bible.Ever since it was written it has been one of the sacred books of many people.

This story of creation was once the favorite subject of artists. In the period before the invention of printing, people depended for their instruction upon pictures about as much as we now do upon books.Painters sometimes covered the walls and ceiling of churches with illustrations of the book of Genesis, transforming them into huge picture-books, from which the worshippers could learn the Bible stories which they were unable to read in books.

Michelangelo was one of the last Italian painters to do this, and he profited by all the work that had been done before to make the grandest series of Genesis illustrations ever produced. It is from this series that our illustration is taken, representing the subject of the Creation of Man. The painter did not try to follow the text
very literally. In the book of Genesis we read [19]

[Footnote 19: Genesis, chapter i verses 26-27; chapter ii verse 7.]

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.... And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul."

Michelangelo takes these words, and expresses, in his own way, the supreme creative moment when "man became a living soul."

The man Adam lies on a jutting promontory of the newly made land. Though his body is formed, he lacks as yet the inner force to use it; he is not yet alive. The Creator is borne along on a swirling cloud of
cherubs, moving forward through space like a rushing mighty wind.Perhaps the painter was thinking of the psalmist's beautiful description of God's coming:[20] "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind."

Face of Adam

The Creation of Adam

In His fatherly face is expressed the good purpose to create a son "in his own image." The cherubic host accompanying him are full of joy and awe. We are reminded of that time of which the poet Milton
wrote,[21] when

                               "All
    The multitude of angels, with a shout
    Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
    As from blest voices, uttering joy,--Heaven rung
    With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled
    The eternal regions."


The sign of the Almighty's creative power is the outstretched arm extended towards Adam with a superb gesture of command. As if in answer to the divine summons, the lifeless figure begins to stir, rising slowly to a sitting posture. The face turns towards the source of life as the flower turns to the sun. The eyes are lifted to the Creator's with a wistful yearning. It is the look we sometimes see in the eyes of a woodland creature appealing for mercy. It is such a look as might belong to that imaginary being of the Greek mythology, the
faun, half beast, half human. Thus Adam, still but half created, begins to feel the thrill of life in his members, and is aroused to action. He lifts his hand to meet the Creator's outstretched finger.The current of life is established, the vital spark is communicated, and in another moment Adam will rise in his full dignity as a human
soul.

This picture was painted long before there was any knowledge of electricity, of electric sparks, and electric currents. Yet, if we did not know otherwise, we might fancy that Michelangelo had some of these wonderful ideas of modern science in mind, as the symbols of the great thoughts he was trying to express.

The picture suggests to our latter day scientific imagination that God's currents of power move as silently, as swiftly, as invisibly and mysteriously as the currents of electricity. The painter meant to show that the work of creation was not a mechanical effort of the Almighty, but that with him a gesture, a word, even a thought, brings something into being.

Face of God

The Creation of Adam

The series of which this picture forms a part is painted in fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in the Pope's palace of the Vatican, Rome. To break up the monotony of the long plain surface he had to decorate, the painter divided the strip of space in the centre into nine compartments. These are separated from each other by a painted architectural framework, so cunningly represented that it seems to project from the ceiling like a solid structure of beams.


Our illustration shows a portion of the simulated framework which incloses the picture. On what appears to be a pedestal at each corner is a seated figure representing a statue. One is a beautiful youth with a horn of plenty, and the other is a faun-like creature capering gayly. The purpose of these figures is decorative, like those in the background of the Holy Family.

Michelangelo by Estelle M. Hurll

Bir Tecavüz Kurbanı, Bir Sanatçı ve Bir Kadın - Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi 8 Temmuz 1593 tarihinde Roma’ da doğar.Ressam bir babanın Orazia Gentileschi nin ilk evladı , tek kızıdır.Ressam baba Orazia Gentileschi Artemisia yı ve erkek kardeşlerini atölyesinde eğitme isteğindedir.Artemisia erkek kardeşlerine göre daha yeteneklidir.Erken yaşlarda eğitimini babasının atölyesinde alır.Bu süreç boyunca genç Artemisia renklerin nasıl karşılaştırıldığını , nasıl resim yapılacağını öğrenir.Artemisia nın eğitimini aldığı dönemlerde Orazia Gentileschi , Caravaggio nun gerçekci çizgilerinden etkilenir ve bu tarzda resim yapmaya başlar.Artemisia da babasından dolayı bu tarz resimler yapmaya başlar.Ancak Artemisia nın yapmış olduğu eserler gerçekliğin farklı verilmesi yönüyle babasının yapmış olduğu eserlerden ayrılır. Annesi, 12 yaşında ölünce babasına sığınır.Fakat babası Artemisia üzerinde baskı kurar.Ona sanat kariyerinde çıraklıktan başka pay vermez.Artemisia ya okuma-yazma bile öğretmez.Aslında tarihsel sürece baktığımızda Artemisia nın kimliğini biliyor oluşumuz biraz da sanatçının babasının ressam oluşundan kaynaklanmaktadır.Çünkü o dönemlerde kadınların bir kimlik olarak kamusal alanda görünmeleri uygun karşılanmazdı.Sanatçının yaşadıkları olumsuzlukları babası yüzünden olmuş olsa da bir bakıma bir kadın sanatçı kimliği ile karşımıza çıkışı da yine babasının ressam oluşuna bağlı olduğunu belirtmek gerekir. Artemisia Gentileschi ilk çalışmasını 17 yaşındayken babasının yardımıyla yapmış olsa da gerçek anlamda ilk eseri olan Susanna ve Elders’ i 1610 da tamamlar.Bu eser Artemisia nın gerçekçi çizgilerden etkilerini göstermektedir.İki adamın bir kadını seks emelleri konusunda bezdirmelerini anlatan bu resimde sanatçının yapmış olduğu birkaç Susanna eserinden biridir.Bu eser sanki Artemisia nın seksüel anlamda rahatsızlığı yaşadığının görselleştirilmesi olarak da okunabilir.Bu eserde banyoda yıkanan Susanna yı taciz eden iki erkek figürünü sanatçı kendi hayatında baskı unsuru olan iki erkeği model alarak yapar: Orazia Gentileschi ve Tassi. Caravaggio nun ışık-gölge karşıtlığı tekniğini kullanır.Ancak Caravaggio gibi koyu tonların hakim olduğu resimler yerine daha açık ve aydınlık resimler üretir.Sonraki süreç içerisinde Artemisia başvurduğu sanat akademilerinden kabul alamayınca eğitimine babasının yanında devam etmeye başlar.Akademileriden kabul alamamasının nedeni ise basittir ; kadın olması.Buna rağmen pes etmez ve çalışmalarına devam eder.Caravaggio ve Michelangelo etkisinde resimler üretmeye devam eder babasının yanında.Eğitimi için babası kendi öğrencisi olan Tassi yi görevlendirir.Tassi Artemisia ya perspektif öğretecektir.Fakat Tassi Artemisia ya ders verceğine Artemisia ya tecavüz eder.Bu tecavüz olayı Tassi nin Artemisia yı evlilik vaadiyle kandırmasıyla sürer.Bu da olayın bir süre gizli kalmasını sağlar.Baba Orazia Gentileschi olayı öğrendiğinde Tassi tecavüz suçundan tutuklanır.Bu süreç içerisinde bütün yaşananlar duyulur ve tecavüz olayı kamu tarafından meşhur bir dava haline gelir.Tassi tutuklanır;fakat hakimin taraflı olur.Kamu da bu kadar bilinen bir dava olmasına karşının hakiminin Tassi yönünde karar alması ve Artemisia ya inanmayışı karşımıza yine kadının o dönemdeki rolü hakkında bize bilgi vermektedir.Davasının doğru olduğunu kanıtlamak için Artemisia kendisine işkence yapılmasını teklif eder ve haklı olduğu bir davada suçlu (Tassi) değil kendisi işkenceden geçirilir.Tabi bu da bir sonuç vermez ve mahkeme Tassi’yi serbest bırakır.Mahkeme kayıtları günümüze kadar ulaşmıştır.Artemisia Gentileschi nin yaşamış olduğu bu trajedi resimlerine de yansır.Çizdiği kadın figürleri sert ve güçlü kadınlar olmuştur.Bu olaydan sonra Artemisia yakın bir aile dostları ile evlenir,damadın adı ; Peter Antonio Stiattesi dir.Artemisia eşiyle birlikte Floransa ya yerleşir ki bu da bir bakıma babasının baskılarından kurtulmak için bir fırsattır. Tassi nin salıverilmesinden sonra Caravaggio nun yapmış olduğu Judith Beheading Holofornes i yapar.Bu eser Caravaggio dan esinlenerek yapmış olduğu bir eser olduğu kadar kadınlar Caravaggio nun kiler kadar güzel değildir.Belki de Artemisia bu eserde başına gelen olumsuz olayların intikamını alır. Judith ve Holfornes in hikayesi de ilginçtir.Anlatıldığına göre Holofornes Asurlu bir komutandır.Savaşmaktan başka bir şey bilmeyen bir başkomutan İsrail üzerine seferler düzenler ve neredeyse tüm İsrailli ele geçirir. Ancak bu bölgeye Judith gelene kadar.Judith güzel ve dul bir kadındır.Holofornes Judith den çok etkilenir.Judith de kavmini kurtarmak için bu durumdan yararlanır. Holofornes i sarhoş edene kadar içirir ve sonrasında hizmetçisi ile birlikte Holofornesin başını keser.Bu olaydan sonra Asur ordusu İsrail topraklarından çekilir.İşte bu tabloda Judith sanatçının kendisine benzerken, ona tecavüz eden Tassi ise Holofornes olarak resimlenmiştir.Bir bakıma bu tablo Tassi için utanç belgesi olur.Bu resim farklı birçok ressam tarafından yapılmış olsade etkileyiciliği ve derinliği Artemisia Gentileschi kadar etkili değildir. Artemisia kariyerine Floransa da devam eder.Böylece hem babasının hakimiyetinden hem de kendisi için kurmuş olduğu planlardan sıyrılmış olur.Dük Cosimo Medici nin iltimasına girer.Bu dönem içerisinde birçok çalışmaya imza atar.Şehrinsoylu ailelerinden siparişler almaya başlar.1613-1614 yılında Judith Beheading Holofornes in devamı niteliğinde olan Judith ve Bayan Maidservant’ı yapar.Yine bu resminde Judith elinde kılıcı vardır.Hizmetçisinin elinde de Tassi olarak resmedilmiş olan Holofornes in kafa bulunmaktadır.Artemisia yeni teknikler öğrenerek resim anlayışını güçleştirir.Hatta okuma yazmayı da öğrenir bu süreç içerisinde.Floransa da yaşadığı süre içerisinde sanatsal anlamda en verimli çağını yaşar.Ayrıca Accedemia Del Disegno ya ilk kadın ressam olarak kabul edilir. Sanatsal anlamda başarılı olduğu bu dönemde evlilik hayatı pek de parlak değildir.Artemisia nın eşi de ressamdır.Fakat Artemisia kadar başarılı değildir.Kocası resim yapmayı bırakır ve Artemisia nın yapmış olduğu resimleri pazarlar.Tabi elde ettiği kazancı ile içki ve kumarda tüketince kötü süren evlilikte derin kırılmalar olur.Ayrıca bu süreçte Peter Antonio kanunsuz bir işe karışarak ortadan kaybolur.Tek başına kalan Artemisia artık ailenin reisi olarak kaynaklarda adı geçer.Durumunun belirsizliği bir daha evlenmesi için engel çıkarır.1620 de Floransadan ayrılır.1630 a kadar Cenova, Roma ve Venedik te sanatına ve yaşamına devam eder.1630 yılında Napoli den Londra ya gider.1.Charles hizmetinde çalışır.Portre ressamı olarak babasından ünlü olur.Ancak 1641 de hayatının sonuna kadar yaşayacağı olan Napoli ye yerleşir.Ölümü hakkında kesin kaynaklar olmadığı için tahminen 1652 yılında öldüğü belirtilmiştir.Sanatçının mezarının yeri de bilinmemektedir. 
Kaynakça: Artemisia Gentileschi:
The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art
Mary D. Garrard
Mary D. Garrard--Artemisia Gentileschi Around 1622 : Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity


Mehmet Kahraman

Michelangelo - Michelange

"Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. He was one of the founders of the High Renaissance and, in his later years, one of the principal exponents of Mannerism. Born at Caprese, the son of the local magistrate, his family returned to Florence soon after his birth. Michelangelo's desire to become an artist was initially opposed by his father, as to be a practising artist was then considered beneath the station of a member of the gentry. He was, however, eventually apprenticed in 1488 for a three-year term to Domenico Ghirlandaio. Later in life Michelangelo tried to suppress this apprenticeship, implying that he was largely self-taught, undoubtedly because he did not want to present himself as a product of the workshop system which carried with it the stigma of painting and sculpture being taught as crafts rather than Liberal Arts. Nevertheless, it was in Ghirlandaio's workshop that Michelangelo would have learnt the rudiments of the technique of fresco painting. Before the end of his apprenticeship, however, he transferred to the school set up by Lorenzo the Magnificent in the gardens of the Palazzo Medici. Here he would have had access to the Medici collection of antiques, as well as a certain amount of tuition from the resident master, Bertoldo di Giovanni. His work here included two marble reliefs, a Madonna of the Steps (Casa Buonarroti, Florence), carved in rilievo schiacciato and showing the influence of Donatello (Bertoldo's master) and a Battle of the Centaurs (Casa Buonarroti, Florence), based on Bertoldo's bronze Battle of the Horsemen, which itself appears to be based on an antique prototype. Either at this time, or when he was in the Ghirlandaio workshop, Michelangelo also studied from and drew copies of the frescos of Giotto and Masaccio.

"With the death of Lorenzo in 1492, the school broke up and Michelangelo was given permission to study anatomy at the hospital attached to Sto Spirito. In gratitude to the prior for allowing him this privilege he carved a wooden Crucifix (the one now in the Casa Buonarroti is considered by some scholars to be the work in question). In October 1494, Michelangelo transferred to Bologna and was awarded the cornmission for three marble figures to complete the tomb of St. Dominic in S. Domenico Maggiore, begun by the recently deceased Niccoló dell' Arca. By June 1496 he was in Rome and here established his reputation with two marble statues, the drunken Bacchus (c 1496-7; Florence, Bargello) for a private patron and the Pietá for St. Peter's (1498-9). The latter is generally considered to be the masterpiece of his early years, deeply poignant, exquisitely beautiful and more highly finished than his later works were to be. In creating a harmonious pyramidal group from the problematic combination of the figure of a full-grown man lying dead across the lap of his mother, Michelangelo solved a formal problem that had hitherto baffled artists. He returned to Florence a famous sculptor and was awarded the commission for the colossal figure of David to stand in the Piazza della Signoria, flanking the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio (1501-4, original now in the Accademia). Soon after this he was cornmissioned to paint a battle scene for the new Council Chamber of the Palazzo. On one wall he commenced the painting of the Battle of Cascina, while on the opposite wall his principal rival, Leonardo, was commissioned to paint the Battle of Anghiari. Although neither painting was ever finished, copies of a fragment of Michelangelo's full-size cartoon, showing a group of nude soldiers reacting variously to the battle alarm that has interrupted their bathing, soon began to circulate (e.g. Earl of Leicester Collection, Holkharn Hall, Norfolk). These nudes, posed in a variety of turning and animated poses, established the Mannerist conception of the male nude as the principal vehicle for the expression of human emotions.

"Michelangelo abandoned this Florentine commission when Pope Julius II summoned him to Rome to design his tomb. What should have been the most prestigious commission of his career, a free-standing tomb with some 40 figures, to be located in St. Peter's, became, in Michelangelo's own words, the 'tragedy of the tomb'. Julius died in 1513, the contract was redrawn several times over the following years with ever-diminishing funding, other demands were made on Michelangelo by successive popes, and the project was finally cobbled together in 1545, a shadow of its original conception, with much help from assistants, in S. Pietro in Vincoli Julius' titular church). The tomb is now principally famous for the colossal figure of Moses (c 1515), one of Michelangelo's greatest sculptures. Two slave figures, The Dying Slave and the Rebellious Slave (c1513), intended for the largest of the schemes for the tomb, are now in the Louvre in Paris, and four unfinished slaves, from an intermediate stage when the tomb had been only slightly reduced, are now in the Accademia in Florence. The four unfinished slaves reveal eloquently Michelangelo's sculptural process: the figure would be outlined on the front of the marble block and then Michelangelo would work steadily inwards from this one side, in his own words 'liberating the figure imprisoned in the marble'. As the more projecting parts were reached so they were brought to a fairly finished state with those parts further back still only rough-hewn: thus the figures of these slaves literally appear to be struggling to be free. The (unintentional) pathos specifically evoked by the unfinished state of figures such as these and the St. Matthew (Accademia, Florence) exerted a tremendous impact on Rodin who recognized in them expressive possibilities that would be lost in a 'finished' piece.

"While in the early stages of work on the Tomb, Julius also commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was evidently reluctant to abandon his sculptural project for one of painting (always much less satisfying to him), but he nonetheless began work in 1508, completed the first half by 1510 and the whole ceiling by 1512. Dissatisfied with traditional methods of fresco painting and mistrustful of assistants who could not meet his evolving demands, he dismissed his workshop at an early stage and completed the monumental task almost single-handedly. The main scenes - the histories - in the centre of the shallow barrel vault, alternate larger and smaller panels and represent the opening passages of the Bible, from the Creation to the Drunkenness of Noah with, at each of the corners of the smaller panels, idealized nude youths, variously interpreted as angels or Neoplatonic perfections of human beauty. The histories are treated like quadri riportati with a horizon parallel to the picture plain. The ignudi, however, inhabit a different reality - one created by the fictive architecture which also forms the shallow space occupied by the enthroned prophets and sibyls (those who foretold Christ's coming) located towards the sides of the vault. Lower down still, in the Nunettes above the windows, are the ancestors of Christ and, at the four corners of the ceiling, Old Testament scenes that prefigure Christ's Crucifixion and thus humanity's salvation. The programme of the ceiling, life before the establishment of the Mosaic Law, relates it to the frescos of the lives of Moses and Christ by Perugino and other artists on the walls below. Michelangelo gives a poignant account of his gruelling task, painting bent over backwards, his neck permanently arched to look up, his arm stretching upwards to wield his brush, in one of his sonnets. The break in work in 1510 allowed him to see the effect of the fresco from the ground (hitherto hidden by scaffolding) and in the second half (that closest to the altar wall) there is a perceptible simplification of detail and a corresponding monumentalization of figure style. Always heralded as the supreme example of Florentine disegno, the recent restoration has also revealed Michelangelo to have been a brilliant colourist.

"In 1516, the new pope, Leo X (Giovanni de'Medici) commissioned Michelangelo to design a facade for San Lorenzo, the Medici parish church in Florence. The commission came to nothing (the facade is unfinished to this day), but this unfulfilled scheme led to his two earliest architectural masterpieces, the Medici Chapel (or New Sacristy) attached to San Lorenzo and the Laurentian Library. Again neither was to be finished. Nevertheless, the 'molten' stairway and the architectural elements of the entrance hall to the library, whose positioning deliberately contradicts the structural function of their prototypes, are seminal in the foundation of architectural Mannerism. The Medici funerary chapel (planned from 1520, abandoned when the Medici were temporarily expelled from Florence in 1527, recommenced in 1530 and left incomplete in 1534) was intended to be a fusion of architecture and sculpture accommodating the tombs of four members of the family. The idea was that looking from the altar, moving past the tombs, one's gaze would be directed by the gaze of the tomb figures who turn towards the far wall and the Madonna holding upon her lap the Christ child, whose sacrifice had made possible the Resurrection of the soul of the faithful to everlasting life - the climax to the iconographical programme of the mausoleum. Only two tombs were completed and the Madonna and Child was half completed. Beneath the seated figure of Giuliano ('vita activa') are reclining figures of Day and Night and beneath that of Lorenzo ('vita contemplativa'), Dawn and Evening. These reclining figures symbolize mortality through the passage of time.

"In 1534 Michelangelo departed for Rome, never to return to Florence. From now on he worked mainly for the papacy. Soon after his arrival Pope Clement VIII commissioned him to paint the fresco of the Last judgement for the Sistine Chapel (work commenced under Pope Paul III in 1536, completed in 1541). The spirit of the work is totally different from that of the ceiling unveiled 29 years earlier. In the interim, the Church had been torn apart by the Reformation, Rome had been sacked (1527), and Michelangelo's fresco breathes the new militancy of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The optimism and confidence of the ceiling is replaced by the pessimism and emotional turmoil of the altar wall: saints swarm around the Apollo-like figure of Christ, wielding their instruments of martyrdom, seemingly demanding righteous judgement on the sinners stirring to life from the bare earth at the bottom of the picture. The Last judgement was intended as the climax of the chapel's account, represented in coherent stages, on the ceiling and walls, of the Christian history of the world. This was Michelangelo's most controversial work to date and was as much condemned (for its nudity) as it was praised (for its artistry). After the death of Michelangelo, the fresco was nearly destroyed, but the Church authorities settled for Daniele da Volterra painting draperies over the offending nudity.

"Following the Last Judgement Paul III commissioned from Michelangelo his two last major frescos for the Capella Paolina, the Conversion of St. Paul and the Martyrdom of St. Peter (1542-50). The same troubled spirit imbues Michelangelo's sculpture from this time, the Pietá (now Florence, Cathedral Museum), intended for his own tomb shows himself as Nicodemus - again, a comparison with the St. Peter's Pietá is eloquent testimony to the spiritual uncertainty of these later years. In the year of his death, his 89th year, he was working on yet another pietá, the Rondanini Pietá. In 1546 Michelangelo was appointed Chief Architect to St. Peter's and charged with the completion of the new church, the most prestigious architectural commission in Christendom. Rebuilding had almost ceased with the death of Bramante in 1514, but Michelangelo, as reluctant to engage in architectural commissions as he had been with painting, had brought the work almost to completion (as high as the drum of the dome) by the time of his death. The dome was erected after his death, to his designs but with some modifications (e.g. Michelangelo's hemispherical profile was made much steeper). Also the nave was lengthened in the 17th century changing Michelangelo's Greek cross plan to a Latin cross plan, and consequently the majesty of the dome is much obscured by the balustrade of the Baroque facade.

"Whether in painting, sculpture or architecture, Michelangelo's influence has been immense. Although he restricted himself to the nude in painting, his expressive use of the idealized human form had a tremendous impact on contemporaries and future generations - even Raphael was not above directly referring to the Sistine Chapel sibyls, with his fresco of Isaiah in Sant' Agostino. Furthermore, there was not a major Italian sculptor of the 16th century whose style was not formed under the influence of Michelangelo, or in direct reaction against him (e.g. Bandinelli). He was the first artist to be the subject of two biographies in his lifetime - those of Condivi and Vasari - with the latter doing much to promote the view of Michelangelo as the consummation of a progression towards artistic perfection that had begun with Giotto."

- From The Bulfinch Guide to Art History