In life we have many expectations of things that we have studied in school or know through stories. One example of this for me is the Sistine Chapel. Growing up I have heard great things and viewed great things about it. Because of these, I created a great image of this chapel in my head. To me it was a place that was huge, well lit, and beautiful gold pieces. However, when I walked into the chapel, unfortunately, it was not this way to me. The room was darker and just wasn’t what I expected it to be. Now I’m not saying it was not amazing how Michelangelo could paint the whole Sistine Chapel, but it just was not what I expected. The part of the chapel that I am going to write about though is the whole ceiling.
This ceiling was painted by Michelangelo and was done by using fresco style. This style is completed by using a fresh surface every time the painter starts painting. This ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512. There are many different paintings on the ceiling telling stories of Noah or from the book of Genesis (Wikipedia.com). The most important of these paintings is the creation of Adam. The interesting part of this painting is the lightning bolt that is portrayed between the fingers of God and Adam. This creates the impression of God giving life to Adam. Also, the curvature of the bodies creates a unique aspect. The body of Adam is almost reflecting from God himself.
Another interesting aspect of the ceiling deals with the sizes of the paintings. When I looked up at the ceiling I was amazed at what I noticed and what I learned about it from the tour guide. The one side of the ceiling has smaller details but a lot of imagery going on in the paintings, while the other side has bigger subjects with less scenery. The tour guide explained that when Michelangelo was painting the ceiling it was a mistake at first and that he had to correct his later paintings in the end to allow for the subjects to grow in size. I thought that it was amazing how he could take something that could have been a huge mistake and fix it into something that was so genius. Without this mistake, would we have the creation of Adam? Would it be as well known as it is today? I think the answer is that it would not stick out as much because Adam and God would not be able to have as much detail that they have now. The second artwork that I chose to do is one of the sculptures of the Catholic Saint. When I walked through the St. Peters Basilica, I couldn’t help but to notice the beauty and detail behind these sculptures. The height of these sculptures alone was unbelievable. The statue that I decided to talk about was the one of St. Longinus. When I first looked at this sculpture I felt so much power coming from it. I feel that the artist (Bernini) wanted to portray him as a very powerful Saint. The arms that are raised allow this type of reaction. It looks like St. Longinus is calling God from the Heavens. His clothing is also allowing this imagery because of how they lay. The robe looks like it is being riffled in strong wind and that something powerful is happening in Bernini’s image.
I feel that Bernini had to set up the sculpture of this saint with so much power because of the legend that is behind St. Longinus. It is said that he was the one who stabbed Christ in the side. Then because of the evil/sin that came about him after this event, he converted into Christian religion (saintpetersbasilica.org). This legend shows that he is a powerful saint because of his repayment for his sin. Here someone did the ultimate sin but was able to ask for forgiveness and change his whole life to better his soul. This is why Bernini had to show all of this power and greatness in this one sculpture!
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