Structure
Contenido
El techo de la Capilla Sixtina está dividido en varias secciones, que los elementos arquitectónicos simulados consiguen multiplicar los marcos de la bóveda y separan las nueve escenas del Génesis que son las que reciben mayor atención gracias a su complejidad, sobre los lunetos de las ventanas y las enjutas laterales es donde están los antepasados de Cristo, los triángulos donde se encuentran los tronos de los profetas y las sibilas y finalmente las enjutas de las esquinas o pechinas donde están las cuatro historias clave de la Salvación del pueblo de Dios.[12].
Se le da una semblanza gótica a la estructura de la bóveda, pero Miguel Ángel no hizo ninguna crucería diagonal, solamente los triángulos podrían recordar en algo al estilo gótico, de hecho, se parece más a una nave central de un salón romano o también de un templo románico, organizado en tramos transversales.[13].
The nine stories of Genesis
These scenes occupy the central area of the vault and attract the most attention from the public. In this rectangular section nine scenes from Genesis are narrated, which can be grouped in triptychs: the first three stories from the altar talk about the Creation of the World; the next three, of the Creation of Man and his expulsion from Paradise; and, the last three, illustrate the story of Noah. Something strange about the order of the frescoes is that when entering the chapel through the main door, the first scene we see painted is that of Noah's Drunkenness, in other words, the scenes are painted in the reverse order.
The scenes are as follows:
• - 1. Noah's drunkenness "Noah's drunkenness (Michelangelo)") (Genesis IX, 23). Noah is seen drunk and asleep, Ham warns his brothers Shem and Japhet, who covers his father's nakedness with his cloak. The sculptural appearance of the figures and their classical aptitude reveal the influence of ancient reliefs.[14].
• - 2. The universal flood "The universal flood (Michelangelo)") (Genesis VII, 18). The painter represented the scene with great drama, the anguish and horror in front of the fury of the elements can be seen on the faces, according to Ascanio Condivi, Michelangelo's first biographer, this was the first scene he painted in the vault, the difficulties he experienced with the painting made him decide to work alone, without assistants. The figures in various positions show violent foreshortening.[15].
• - 3. Noah's sacrifice (Genesis VIII, 20). This scene is the most academic, with a great rhythm of composition and a rigorous perspective that is highlighted by the corner position of the sacrificial altar, the figures are arranged within an oval geometry.[16].
• - 4. Original sin and expulsion from the earthly Paradise (Genesis II, 4). From this area is the second phase of the painting, thus it is believed that once the scaffolding was removed Michelangelo was able to contemplate the effect of his paintings from a distance, and consequently, an increase in the size of the figures is seen, as well as a decrease in the number, naturally this is also the illustrative need in the following scenes for the stories he tells. This scene corresponds to two narratives, the original sin and the expulsion from Paradise, with a perfect balance and a twist of the figures in contrapposto, here a clear allusion to Masaccio is seen in comparison with his painting The First Fathers.[17].
• - 5. The creation of Eve "The creation of Eve (Michelangelo)") (Genesis II, 21: Then Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and, while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh in its place). Eve emerges from Adam's side with her hands in a position to pray to God, her creator. Eve's nudity lacks seduction, the body presents great heaviness and the face is made with thick lines resembling a Roman matron, while Adam is shown with a calm face and a feeling of sweetness in his dream. of Bologna. In this fresco you can see the symbology of the four elements, in the rocky soil, the earth, in the background a surface of blue water, the air throughout the painting and finally the fire in the red color of God's tunic.[19].
• - 6. The creation of Adam (Genesis I, 26: Then God said: Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness). No one like Michelangelo had known how to capture the creation of human life with such simplicity and strength, this mystery, the happy idea of transmission by contact of the fingers, as if it were a point of electricity, according to Ernst Gombrich is "one of the greatest miracles of art."
• - 7. Separation of waters and land (Genesis I, 9). Here he represented God flying with both arms extended to show the energy in his hands and giving order for the separation of the waters and the earth.[21].
• - 8. Creation of the stars and plants (Genesis I, 4). In this section, the third and fourth days of creation are represented, the figure of God from behind creates the plants and the front side with a powerful gesture creates the stars, the double presence perhaps alludes to the omnipresence of the Creator.[22].
• - 9. Separation of light from darkness (Genesis I, 4). With great originality in the foreshortening, the two hands separate the night from the day, as if it were an Atlantean "Atlas (mythology)"), God, supports the weight of the cosmos.[23].
In these scenes, some male nudes called ignudi alternate, which give a sensual touch to the work, and some medallions that represent other moments in the history of the Bible, painted as if they had an engraving imitating bronze. The size of the frescoes is different. The first painting is small and is framed by four ignudi and two bronze medallions showing the outline of a scene.
The second is represented in the same space as the previous one but this time, also on what would be the frame of the nudes and medallions, so this scene is larger than the previous one. And so the scenes alternate, a small one, and then a big one.
Another issue was that Michelangelo painted the scene of Noah's Sacrifice before the Flood, when it is known that the Sacrifice he made was precisely to thank God for having been saved from the Flood and because it had ended. This was probably done because the large space needed to be used by the Flood to highlight this aspect.
Nudes or ignudi
The naked adolescents represent the rings between man and the divine, they are the equivalence of the angels of the Christian tradition and that of the loves of the Platonic tradition. According to the iconography, the ignudi may represent the putti of the 19th century, since the putti used to have the mission of holding coats of arms, that is, the medallions that Michelangelo's nudes now hold.[24].
He made them with powerful anatomies and they all present a different attitude, with great variety in the use of arms and legs, they lean backwards or forwards in total freedom, with a clear relationship to the Platonic concepts of Beauty and Eros, it has been given an interpretation of a sensual symbol or of slavery.[25].
Medallions
The small biblical scenes shown on the ten circular shields held by the ignudi, painted to look like bronze and with gold leaf. Each of them is decorated with a painting taken from the Old Testament or Book of Maccabees. The theme in almost all cases is one of the most shameful biblical episodes, with the sole exception of Elijah who rose to heaven in a chariot of fire, leaving Elisha in a state of despair.[26].
In four of the five most finished medallions, the space is filled with figures. The application of gold serves to limit frescoes.
In some frescoes made by Perugino, gold leaf had also been used to highlight the folds of the tunics; Michelangelo used them in the medallions, perhaps inspired by those that appear in a Roman triumphal arch from an episode of Moses made by Botticelli.
The technique he used is unusual in fresco, and may be original in its use on this scale, but it is not unique. He used the same technique that was used to decorate shields in parades (a series of shields decorated by this technique are displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). The color (in this case striped in red ocher with black) achieves the middle tones of the composition. The edges of the shadow are then painted, or rather, drawn with a brush in a very linear manner that defines the contours of the shapes. It highlights the luminosity of the colors and contours that are usually drawn with white chalk or finely painted in white paint. But in this case, the gold leaf replaced the white paint and was applied exactly as if it had been based on the same method of contour definition as the black lines.
The ten imitation bronze medallions held by the ignudi represent the following scenes:
• - Sacrifice of Abraham, (Genesis XXII, 9).
• - Destruction of the image of Baal, (II Kings X,25).
• - Extermination of the tribe of Ahab, (II Kings X,17).
• - Death of Uriah, (II Samuel XI, 24).
• - Nathan and David, (II Samuel XII, 17).
• - Death of Absalom, (II Samuel, XVIII).
• - Joab kills Abner, (II Samuel III, 27).
• - Death of Joram, son of Ahab (II Kings IX, 21).
• - Elijah on the chariot of fire, (II Kings II.
• - Incomplete.
pendentives
There are also the scenes of the corner pendentives which could be summarized in the four decisive moments of the salvation of the people of Israel. There are four stories from the Old Testament that marked the destiny of Israel and all of God's people.
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- The bronze serpent. In the execution of this painting, there are echoes of the impression made on Michelangelo by the vision of Laocoön and his sons, a sculpture found in Rome in the year 1506. The story tells when in the exodus of the Jewish people, they were attacked by a plague of snakes, Moses interceded before God to save them, and God ordered the creation of a bronze snake hanging on a stick, telling him: "Every person who has been bitten and looks at it will live."
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- David and Goliath. The moment of David's beheading with Goliath's sword is shown. The figure of the giant was made with a very forced foreshortening, which reinforces the dramatic moment, with the contrast offered by the white paint of the tent placed in the background of the composition.
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- Haman's punishment. This group also belongs to the salvation of Israel, it concentrates great drama with the nude in the center of the scene, which is the equivalent of the Captives of the tomb of Julius II. The story explains that Esther, a Jew, was proclaimed queen of Persia by King Ahasuerus, while Haman, his prime minister, tried to destroy the Jewish people, something Esther prevented, and Haman was hanged on the stake that he had ordered to be raised for Mordecai.
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- Judit and Holofernes. He narrated this episode in three scenes, on the left side a guard is asleep, on the right you can see the figure of Holofernes lying decapitated and in the central part the figures of Judith with her servant dressed in yellow, representative of the Church, in contrast to Judith's white color, symbol of purity. They are covering the head of Holofernes with a cloth, which they carry on a tray, (the face of which is said to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself).[27]
• - The bronze serpent.
• - David and Goliath.
• - Haman's punishment.
• - Judith and Holofernes.
Prophets and sibyls
The representation of the Old Testament prophets and the sibyls occupy the triangular spaces and are the largest figures in the entire work on the vault. The sibyls and the prophets are framed in the vision of the announcement of the Messiah, embodying the hopes of Christian humanity. They are all seated on large marble thrones and between two pillars with two small golden columns each. Simulated sculptures of small naked putti are painted on the marble pillars. Below the prophets the Latin name of each one appears. The Hebrew prophets represent the preparation of the new spiritual era. Sibyls became part of Christian iconography in the Middle Ages. Michelangelo referred to the book Historical Mirror by Vincent de Beauvais, belonging to his work Speculum Majus, where he included them in sacred art. Since the century they have been increasingly represented in Italian painting.[28].
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- Jonah "Jonah (prophet)"). The figure of Jonah, represented on the altar, accompanied by the whale, has a greater movement than any other figure, beyond the assigned place.
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- Libyan Sibyl. This sibyl was the priestess of the oracle of Zeus in the Libyan desert. According to the historian Freedberg, it is among all the ones that:
-
- Daniel "Daniel (Michelangelo)"). The prophet Daniel, a young man, is in the position of writing while holding the book for a little putto.
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- Cuman Sibyl. The old age of the Sibyl of Cumas, with a solemn posture and robust limbs, harmonizes with the representations of the figures of the prophets, achieving softening and plastic balance with the nuanced tones of yellow and violet along with the monochrome of the background. Of the Sibyl of Cumas, they say, she lived nine human lives of one hundred and ten years each, granted by Apollo, when the Sibyl asked her the wish to live as many years as grains of sand could fit in her hand. Apollo granted her, but not youth, so she grew so old that she was put inside a cage in the temple of Apollo at Cumae. For this reason, Michelangelo, I paint her as an old woman; You can also see one of the angels placed next to him giving him a book, this alludes to the tradition, according to which, the sibyl offered nine prophetic books to King Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, for a high price, when the king did not accept this amount, the sibyl burned the books until she only had three left, it was then that the king agreed to pay the initial amount for them. The Sibylline books were taken to the temple of Jupiter "Jupiter (mythology)"), where they remained until the year 83 BC. C. that were destroyed by a fire.[29].
Nude bronze figures
Located in the same strip where the representations of the prophets and sibyls are found in the triangles over the ancestors of Christ, Michelangelo painted figures in pairs of nudes simulating bronze.
These figures are believed to symbolize demons and are separated from each other by a ram's skull, a symbol of death and sin. All couples are in different positions.[32].
Ancestors of Christ
Below the Prophets and the Sibyls are the lunettes where the names of Christ's ancestors are found according to the Gospel of Matthew (Ma 1:1-16), and scenes about them. Also in the side spandrels there are some scenes of them. They are less dramatic groups and in these frescoes the three hundred figures that make up the entire representation of the vault of the Sistine Chapel are completed.
Representations in the eight triangles:
• - Josiah.
• - Zerubbabel.
• - Hezekiah.
• - Azariah.
• - Rehoboam and Abijah.
• - Solomon.
• - Jesse, David and Solomon.
• - Bathsheba mother of Solomon.
Representation in the lunettes:.
• - Eleazar "Eleazar (biblical character)") and Matan").
• - Jacob and Joseph "Joseph (patriarch)").
• - Azor and Zadok.
• - Akim and Eliud").
• - Josiah, Jeconiah and Shealtiel").
• - Zerubbabel, Abihud") and Eliachim").
• - Hezekiah, Manasseh and Ammon of Judah.
• - Ozias, Jotham and Ahaz.
• - Salmon "Psalm (genre)"), Boaz and Obed.
• - Naasson").
• - Amminadab").
• - Phares, Hesron") and Aram.
• - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah.