Because of what they wanted to destroy Michelangelo's famous fresco "The Last Judgment"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the 1500s, there was a daunting task: to visualize the scene of the Last Judgment and, moreover, to do it in the Sistine Chapel, the chapel of the papal court, which is now an outstanding monument of the Renaissance. No artist in 16th century Italy was better equipped for this task than Michelangelo. And he created a masterpiece …

History of creation

In 1533, Michelangelo worked in Florence on various projects in San Lorenzo for Pope Clement VII. On September 22 this year, the artist went to San Miniato to meet his dad. Perhaps it was then that the Pope expressed a desire for Michelangelo to paint the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel on the theme of the Last Judgment. He completed his monumental work in 1512 - and this cemented his reputation as the greatest master of depicting human nature.

The Last Judgment was one of the first works of art commissioned by Paul III after his election to the papacy in 1534. Paul III sought to eliminate the Protestant Reformation and reaffirm the legitimacy of the Catholic Church and the orthodoxy of its doctrines. The visual arts played a key role in achieving these goals, including a message he sent to his circle, commissioning a depiction of the Last Judgment. The decorative depiction of the plot begins with the creation of the world by God and His covenant with the people of Israel (represented in the Old Testament scenes on the ceiling and south wall) and continues with the earthly life of Christ (on the north wall). The scene of the Last Judgment ends the story. The papal court and representatives of the church occupy the center between the scenes with Christ and His second coming. The entire fresco is dominated by a human figure, almost always completely naked. The bodies are presented with great expressiveness and strength.

The main figures and objects of the mural

Despite the density in the arrangement of the figures, the artist clearly organized the composition in tiers and quadrants with subgroups and significant figures that help to perceive complex scenes. Michelangelo used the symbolism of the scales used to weigh souls - in their likeness, the composition rises on the left and falls on the right.

1. Christ is the anchor point of this complex composition. A powerful, muscular figure, he steps forward in a bending gesture. The "damned" is depicted on the left. On the right is “blessed”. Under his raised hand, as if under reliable protection, is the Virgin Mary. 2. A group of wingless angels is depicted directly under Christ. They call upon the dead to rise with such force that their cheeks swell with effort. It seems that observers can even hear sounds being emitted. At this time, two other angels are holding open books with records of the deeds of the resurrected. The angel with the book of the damned decisively tilts it down to show the damned that their sad fate is rightly based on their misdeeds. 3. In the lower left corner of the composition, the dead emerge from their graves, discarding their burial garments. Some ascend effortlessly, attracted by an invisible force, while others are assisted by angels. This detail confirms a doctrine contested by Protestants: prayer and good works, not just faith and divine grace, play a dominant role in the Last Judgment.

4. On the right side of the composition (to the left of Christ), demons pull the damned to hell, and angels, in battle, defeat those who are trying to escape their sorrowful fate. One of the figures is slain by an angel and pulled by a demon: a bag of money hangs from his chest. His sin is clear - it is greed. Another figure - a type of the sin of pride - dares to fight back by challenging the divine decision. 5. Charon - the carrier of the souls of the dead - drives the damned to the shores of hell, and in the lower right corner stands the slaughtered Minos - the legendary king of the "capital" of Ancient Crete - Knossos. His own fleshly sinfulness is indicated by the serpent. He stands at the very edge of hell.

6. The symbolism of the self-portrait of Michelangelo himself on the fresco is very interesting. In the center of the fresco is depicted Saint Bartholomew holding a ripped human skin in his hands. There is a hypothesis that Michelangelo depicted that moment of the Last Judgment, when Christ decides the fate of the artist himself (in the center of Christ, his gaze is directed exactly to the image of Michelangelo). In the Christian tradition, Saint Bartholomew, both during his life and after death, was associated with the miracles of mass change. A well-known legend about him says: once his body was thrown into the sea and washed ashore. Then the local bishop ordered the men to bring the body. But it turned out to be too heavy. And then the bishop ordered the children to bring the body, which easily coped with the task. The fact that sinless children were able to lift their bodies symbolizes that sins have real heaviness. It is not for nothing that contemporaries dubbed Michelangelo "divine" for his ability to compete with God himself in giving shape to an ideal body. Despite his fame, the artist often mourned his youthful pride, which made him focus on the beauty of art rather than saving the soul. And here, in his most monumental work, Michelangelo confesses his sin and expresses the hope that Christ will have mercy on him and take him to paradise. 7. Left: John the Baptist, right: Saint Peter. Michelangelo's fresco is primarily about the triumph of Christ. The kingdom of heaven dominates the dark sides. The elect and believers surround Christ. They are outlined in large figures in the foreground and extend far into the depths of the painting. Particularly significant are the images of John the Baptist and St. Peter, which surround Christ on the left and right. John can be identified by the camel's skin, and St. Peter can be identified by the keys he returns to Christ. His role as the keeper of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven is complete.

Society assessment

Like Dante in his great epic, The Divine Comedy, Michelangelo strove to create an epic picture worthy of the greatness of the plot. He used metaphor and allusion to decorate the chapel ceiling. Rumors about the creation of a masterpiece quickly spread everywhere and led to numerous debates about the merits and abuses of religious art. 1. Some favorably perceived the fresco as the pinnacle of artistic achievement. Most praised this work as a masterpiece. They saw Michelangelo's distinctive figurative style with his challenging poses, extreme camera angles and powerful muscles. 2. Others considered it the embodiment of anti-religious and called for its destruction. This side was literally shocked - first of all by the nude (although this is part of the plot, because the resurrected will go to heaven naked, as created by God). Critics also objected to distorted postures, breaks with the pictorial tradition of the Bible (beardless Christ, wingless angels) and the emergence of mythology (figures of Charon and Minos). All the trumpet angels are in the same group, whereas in the Book of Revelation they were sent to the "four corners of the earth." Christ does not sit on the throne as indicated in the Scriptures. Such draperies, which were painted by Michelangelo, were depicted as being blown by the wind. But according to the scriptures, the weather has no place to be on the Day of Judgment. Critics saw these details as a distraction from the fresco's spiritual message. Michelangelo was accused of not feeling the proper decency with regard to nudity and other aspects of the work, as well as achieving artistic effect, absolutely not following the biblical description of the event. There was even a censorship campaign (known as the "Fig Leaf Campaign") to destroy the "indecent" fresco. The Pope's ceremonial master, Biagio da Cesena, upon seeing the painting, said that "it's a shame that in such a sacred place there are naked bodies in such an obscene form" and that this fresco is not for the Pope's chapel, but rather "for public baths and taverns."

For all the indignation of a particularly conservative part of society, the reputation and status of Michelagelo allowed the artist to keep his masterpiece unchanged. The controversy continued for many years, until 1564. However, in the end, a compromise was reached. Soon after the artist's death in 1564, Daniele da Volterra was summoned to the chapel. His task was clear - to cover the obscene parts of the figures with pieces of drapery. This was important in order to ennoble the famous fresco and eliminate any controversy about the religiosity of the image.

Michelangelo's Last Judgment is one of the most monumental and striking representations of this plot in the history of Christian art. Over 300 muscular figures in an endless variety of dynamic poses fill the wall to the brim. The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel is visited by 25,000 people every day! Despite the changes in the fresco after the death of the artist, the painting has not lost its expressive power.