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Sistine Chapel"Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving." Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 23 August 1787. The Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is a large and renowned chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City.
Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo. During the reign of Sixtus IV, a Renaissance painters as Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, worked on a series of frescos in this Chapel.
Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, a masterpiece without precedent, followed by The Last Judgement, painted between 1535 and 1541 for Pope Alexander III. The fame of Michelangelo's paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel, ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago. The ceiling Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to repaint the vault, or ceiling, of the Chapel. It was originally painted as golden stars on a blue sky.
The work was completed between 1508 and 2 November 1512. Michelangelo was intimidated by the scale of the commission, and made it known from the outset of Julius II's approach that he would prefer to decline. He felt he was more of a sculptor than a painter, and was suspicious that such a large-scale project was being offered to him by enemies as a set-up for an inevitable fall. For Michelangelo, the project was a distraction from the major marble sculpture that had preoccupied him for the previous few years. To be able to reach the ceiling, . Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. He lay on this scaffolding while he painted. Michelangelo used bright colours, easily visible from the floor. The fresco is composed by more than 300 biblical figures. The painted area is about 40 m long, by 13 m wide. This means that ichelangelo painted well over 5,000 square feet of frescoes. The Last Judgement
The Last Judgement was painted by Michelangelo between 1535 and 1541, .
The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the Apocalypse. The souls of humanity rise and descend to their fates as judged by Christ and his saintly entourage. The Last Judgement was an object of a bitter dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo. Because he depicted naked figures, the artist was accused of immorality and obscenity. A censorship campaign (known as the "Fig-Leaf Campaign") was organized by Carafa and Monsignor Sernini to remove the frescoes. When the Pope's own Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns,", Michelangelo worked da Cesena's semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. It is said that when he complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain. Other Frescos
The northern wall houses the Stories of Jesus, dating to 1481–1482. They include:
The southern wall is decorated with the Stories of Moses, painted in 1481–1482. Starting from the altar:
Virtual tour
Visit the Sistine Chapel in this beatiful 360° Virtual tour |
UNESCO SITEThe Sistine Chapel, part of Vatican City, is listed as a
World Heritage Site by UNESCO Numbers
Il BRAGHETTONEThe genitalia in the fresco were later covered by the artist Daniele da Volterra, whom history remembers by the derogatory nickname "Il Braghettone" ("the breeches-painter").
DETAILSThe Ceiling
The Last Judgement
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Ceiling image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Qypchak
Chapel interior image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Antoine Taveneaux
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Attribution. wikipedia.org
Ceiling image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Qypchak
Chapel interior image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Antoine Taveneaux