Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel plays an important role in Italian Renaissance art history and it houses some of the most iconic images of the era. The chapel, located within the Vatican City, is named after Sixtus IV della Rovere. Vatican City is located in Rome, Italy. The pope during this time was Pope Benedict XVI. The construction for this beautiful building started in the year of 1473 and ended in 1481.The chapel has a rectangular shape. It measures 41 by 13 meters and was built using somewhat ordinary bricks. From the outside there is nothing spectacular about the building. It has a barrel-shaped roof, topping 20 meters. On the inside, the chapel is divided into 2 by a transenna, which is a fence made from marble. The part facing the altar is only accessible to priests.
The painting of the ceiling took four years. It took its toll on Michelangelo's health: working on his back, an impressive amount of paint must have entered his lungs. But it was certainly worth the effort.After finishing the work in 1512, Michelangelo switched to making sculptures, hardly painting anything until 1536, when he started on the Last Judgment.The central part of the ceiling shows scenes from Genesis. On both sides are several Biblical prophets and some sibyls. The Sistine Chapel’s frescoed ceiling has held up remarkably well in the five centuries since its completion. Only one small component is missing: part of the sky in the panel depicting Noah’s escape from the great biblical flood. The section of painted plaster fell to the floor and shattered following an explosion at a nearby gunpowder depot in 1797. Despite the ceiling’s apparent hardiness, experts worry that foot traffic from the millions of people who visit the Sistine Chapel each year continues to pose a serious threat.
The Architect who constructed the chapel was Michelangelo. His first love was sculpture. Michelangelo was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer. Most people assume that he was lying down while creating this amazing chapel. But in fact, the artist and his assistants used wooden scaffolds that allowed them to stand upright and reach above their heads. Michelangelo himself designed the unique system of platforms, which were attached to the walls with brackets.It was arduous work that required him to constantly paint while lying on his back atop a scaffold that raised him within inches of the ceiling. However, Michelangelo not only overcame these obstacles, but after four years, revealed a masterpiece.
Each wall has several different paintings on it. The side walls contain short biblical stories about the stories of Moses, who is the saviour of the Jewish people. On the left, there are scenes painted from the Old Testament; “The Journey of Moses in Egypt”, “Trials of Moses”, and the “Handing Over of the Tables of the Law”.On the right, there are scenes painted from the New Testament; one of them being the “Baptism of Christ”. The second panel contains the “Temptations of Christ” and “Cleansing of the Leper”.
Other interesting facts about the Sistine Chapel The chimney releases black smoke telling us that the Pope has died and then white smoke is released telling us that there is a new Pope. It has been said that no artist in history suffered as much as Michelangelo did when he suffered in the 4 years it took him to complete the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He suffered with his knees, back and neck and he still managed to live to be 89 years old. Michelangelo was only 32 years old when he began painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. One of the intriguing Sistine Chapel facts is that while the interior is gorgeous and attracts millions of visitors each year, the exterior of the building and the architecture is nothing special, and is quite plain.
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