Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Art of 16th century Italy
In 1508, Pope Julius II invited Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It was built in the 1470s by Julius's uncle, Pope Sixtus IV. In the early 1480s, the altar and side walls were decorated with frescoes with gospel scenes and scenes from the life of Moses, in the creation of which Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli participated. Above them were portraits of popes, and the vault remained empty. In 1508, Michelangelo reluctantly began painting the vault. The Sistine Chapel is a tall, long room 48 m long, 13 m wide and 18 m high, covered with a flat vault. The presence of windows in the side walls determined the nature of the division of the ceiling made by Michelangelo. With the help of architectural elements illusorily conveyed by painting, the ceiling is divided into a number of parts. The middle part of the chapel's ceiling is occupied by nine scenes of the biblical legend about the creation of the world and the life of the first people on earth; in the corners of each of these compositions there are figures of naked young men. On the sides of the vault are depicted seven prophets and five sibyls (soothsayers). In the remaining parts of the painting - in the vault sails, formwork and lunettes above the windows - individual episodes from the Bible and the so-called ancestors of Christ are depicted.

By giving the main figures, in particular the prophets and sibyls, large sizes, Michelangelo achieved, with the help of such different scales, the best identification of individual scenes and figures. The work lasted about four years between 1508 and 1512, with minimal assistance from assistants. Initially it was intended to depict the figures of the apostles on thrones. Later, in a letter of 1523, Michelangelo proudly wrote that he had convinced the pope of the failure of this plan and received complete freedom. Instead of the original project, the mural we see now was created. If the side walls of the chapel represent the Age of Law (Moses) and the Age of Grace (Christ), then the ceiling painting represents the very beginning of human history, the Book of Genesis. The ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel is a complex structure consisting of painted elements of architectural decoration, individual figures and scenes. On the sides of the central part of the ceiling, under a painted cornice, there are giant figures of Old Testament prophets and pagan Sibyls seated on thrones. Between the two cornices there are transverse stripes imitating a vault; they demarcate alternating major and minor narrative scenes from the Book of Genesis. The lunettes and spherical triangles at the base of the painting also contain scenes.

Numerous figures, including the famous ignudi (nude), frame scenes from the Book of Genesis. It is unclear whether they have any special meaning or are purely decorative. Existing interpretations of the meaning of this painting could form a small library. Since it is located in the papal chapel, its meaning must have been orthodox, but there is no doubt that Renaissance thought was also embodied in this complex. It is possible to present only the generally accepted interpretation of the basic Christian ideas embedded in this painting. The images fall into three main groups: scenes from the Book of Genesis, prophets and sibyls, and scenes in the vaults. The scenes from the Book of Genesis, as well as the compositions on the side walls, are arranged in chronological order, from the altar to the entrance. They fall into three triads. The first is related to the creation of the world. The second - the Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, Temptation and Expulsion from Paradise - is dedicated to the creation of humanity and its fall. The latter tells the story of Noah, ending with his drunkenness. It is no coincidence that Adam in the scene “The Creation of Adam” and Noah in the scene “Noah’s Drunkenness” are in the same position: in the first case, a person does not yet possess a soul, in the second he refuses it. Thus, these scenes show that humanity was deprived of divine favor not once, but twice.

The Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) from the outside is an unremarkable church building from the 15th century on the territory of modern. However, the walls, lined with sand-colored stone, contain true pearls of the Renaissance– works by (Michelangelo Buonarroti), (Sandro Botticelli), Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio.

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The Sistine Chapel was built in 1475-1481 by order of Pontiff Sixtus IV (Sisto IV) in honor of the Dormition of Mary in heaven.

The site for the construction of the church was not chosen by chance. Previously, on this site in Rome there was the Great Chapel (Cappella Maggiore), which hosted the highest conclaves of the Catholic clergy. The grandiose reconstruction of the outdated chapel was entrusted to the architect Baccio Pontelli and the engineer Giovannino de’ Dolci.

The construction manager decided to preserve the foundation and part of the lower tier of the previous building. During construction, the church received 3 floors, 2 of them were intended for the needs of the church, and the top one was a gallery for soldiers on guard duty. The chapel itself also represents an example of fortification architecture: a rectangular building 20.7 m high, 40.9 m long, 13.4 m wide. Strong walls and a lack of frills were dictated by the turbulent situation in the fragmented Italy of the Middle Ages.

Murals

The Sistine Chapel is famous all over the world for the frescoes that decorated its vault and walls in the 15th and 16th centuries. The general plan for painting the church was developed during the construction work. The building was divided into three horizontal tiers and was to be decorated from the bottom up. The lower tier had simple decorative paintings, the second tier was dedicated to the events of the Old Testament and scenes from the life of Christ reflected in the New Testament. The topmost tier was supposed to depict pontiffs who suffered martyrdom.

Florentines

Work on decorating the Sistine Chapel began with Perugino, a master of the Umbrian school of painting. He painted two pictures from the life of Christ and one from the Old Testament. By 1480, the tense political relations between Pope Sixtus IV and the head of the Florentine Signoria (Lorenzo de’ Medici) had warmed somewhat.

As a gesture of goodwill, the Medici sent masters of the Florentine school: Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, and the Pontiff graciously allowed them to settle in Rome and begin work on the Sistine Chapel.

The Florentines, with the support of Pinturicchio and Bartolomeo della Gatta, painted the walls of the new church. The subjects of the 10 frescoes were developed and approved down to the smallest detail by Sixtus IV himself. Particular attention was paid to ensuring that compositions from the Old and New Testaments harmoniously complement each other. The artist managed to enhance the impression of iconographic paintings Piermateo d'Amelia, who depicted the starry sky on the vault of the temple.

Ceiling

Sixtus IV's successor, his nephew Julius II, never for a moment forgot what the Sistine Chapel meant for the Catholic Church.

Contribution of Michelangelo Buonarroti

In 1508, the pontiff invited Michelangelo Buonarroti to restore the existing paintings and apply new ones. It took the famous master 4 whole years (from 1508 to 1512) to decorate the vault.

It is noteworthy that Michelangelo at that time was considered an unsurpassed architect, while frescoes were new to him.

The sculptor's contemporaries see in what happened the machinations of Buonarroti's competitor, Donato Bramante. Bramante had his own candidate in mind for creating the fresco - (Raffaello Santi).

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a real challenge for Michelangelo.

In addition to mastering a new artistic technique, the master had to solve organizational issues. How, for example, can you install scaffolding right up to the ceiling without interfering with church ceremonies? “Flying scaffolding”, designed by the artist, was attached to the walls of the church on special pins. At the same time, the artist and his apprentices found themselves at the required height, and the clergy received freedom of movement.

There are various speculations regarding Buonarroti's work under the vault of the chapel. Some sources say that the master worked lying down, while paint and plaster fell abundantly onto his face. In fact, Michelangelo worked standing up, with room to maneuver. However, the intense work under the ceiling of the chapel took a toll on the health of the 33-year-old artist.

To top it all off, the wet layers of plaster, on which paint was used, began to become intensively covered with fungus. The master and his assistants were able to develop a new formula for “intonaco” - a composition for impregnating plaster that was resistant to the humid Roman air.

Despite all the vicissitudes of fate, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was decorated with frescoes, united into a single iconographic cycle. Michelangelo painted paintings illustrating nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. In the miniatures of the vault you can see “The Separation of Light from Darkness”, “The Sacrifice of Noah”, “The Creation of Adam”, “The Fall”, “The Expulsion from Paradise”.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has three distinct chains of meaning: the creation of the World, Adam and Eve, the hardships of humanity deprived of Paradise.

By examining each painting separately, you can trace the transformation of Buonarroti’s painting. Due to the high ceiling height, the artist abandoned small details and elaborate curls in favor of more laconic and clear lines.

The plot of each fresco is laconic and succinct; the miniatures are enclosed in decorative frames made of travertine. The huge area of the ceiling could have caused an oppressive impression, putting pressure on the parishioners, if not for the little tricks of the master, who artificially divided the huge ceiling into 47 parts. Small paintings and geometric frames create unprecedented depth and detail in the murals.

Pope Julius II urged Michelangelo in every possible way, rushing to amaze the public with a masterpiece wonder. The final frescoes were painted in a short time, but the artist’s skill made it possible to preserve the deep impression made by the church ceiling. The pontiff also complained that the ceiling looked rather poor, due to the lack of gilding and azure. The master responded that the saints themselves were not rich people.

"The Last Judgment" (Giudizio universale)

A quarter of a century later, the Sistine Chapel will again be at the disposal of Michelangelo. This time an even more dramatic masterpiece will be created - a wall fresco depicting the Last Judgment.

Pope Clement VII in 1533 summoned Buonarroti to Rome and discussed the details of the design of the altar wall in the main chapel of the Vatican. The death of the pontiff delayed the start of work by 4 years. In 1536, Paul III approved his predecessor's plans for the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo began work.

The large-scale picture conceived by the pontiffs required difficult decisions. First, the earlier frescoes painted on the wall behind the temple altar were sacrificed to the new creation. Secondly, a 40-centimeter brick canopy was placed above the upper border of the painting, which would prevent dust from settling on the surface of the wall.

Having prepared sketches and purchased paints of the required quality, Michelangelo began work in mid-1536. It took the artist four years to create the complete painting, during which time Buonarroti allowed only one of his assistants to use brushes and paints, and then only to create a celestial background. All characters were drawn exclusively by the hand of the master.

During the restoration of the Sistine Chapel, art historians discovered that the entire fresco is divided into fragments (squares completed in one day), the number of which was 450 pieces!

The public saw the completed altar fresco “The Last Judgment” at the end of October 1541. There are records that Pope Paul III was so amazed by the picture depicted on the wall of the chapel that he fell to his knees and indulged in fervent prayer. And there were good reasons for this! From the wall of the chapel, heavenly angels hovering in the clouds looked down on visitors; in the center of the picture, Jesus and the Virgin Mary were dramatically depicted, surrounded by the blessed. The lower tier represents a picture of the End of Times: the messengers of the Apocalypse trumpet the Last Judgment, the sinners descend to hell, and the righteous ascend to heaven.

This work of 60-year-old Michelangelo was so brilliant that it excited the minds and hearts of everyone and everything.

Along with boundless admiration, it also gave rise to discontent. Thus, Cardinal Carafa and the master of ceremonies Biagio da Cesena expressed extreme indignation at the nudity of biblical figures. Paul III and Buonarroti ironically and steadfastly retorted to their opponents.

However, 24 years later, censorship finally got to the “indecent” fresco and threw covers over the saints and martyrs. Daniele da Volterra brought the fresco into decent shape, for which he received the nickname “Pants Writer”. Being a student and admirer of Michelangelo, the artist tried to minimize his intervention.

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, as well as the wall frescoes, are the undoubted pride of the Vatican, as well as a masterpiece of fine art. The Pontificate cares about the safety of its property. So, The last restoration of the chapel paintings took no less than 14 years, from 1980 to 1994!

Modern life

Today, the Sistine Chapel is still used for conclaves at which Vatican pontiffs are elected. The rest of the time, the chapel is a place that pilgrims and tourists tend to visit.

Male choir

In addition, the Sistine Chapel has a male choir known as the “Papal Chapel” (Capella Papale).

The choir has a high status among Catholic singing groups. You can listen to an a cappella performance by a high choir on major church holidays. The first composition of the papal chapel was organized under Sixtus IV. Since then, getting into the Sistine Choir has been a matter of great honor and brings great wealth. Since the 19th century, the full name of the group has been Cappella musicale pontificia sistina.

Interesting facts and that yn

Interesting facts and secrets concerning the Sistine Chapel and the personality of its author are woven into a fascinating plot. After 5 centuries, one can only guess which of the existing legends is true and which is a complete fiction. In 2006, Konstantin Efetov published the book “The Shocking Secret of the Sistine Chapel,” in which he tried to unravel the most fascinating mysteries of the temple. The book went through several successful reprints and received a sequel.

The focus of the study is Buonarroti, who agreed to leave the ranks of architects in order to master the skills of working with frescoes from scratch. The author asks why the medieval master was so reluctant to attract assistants, preferring to work alone. The idea was also voiced that the young Michelangelo was secretly studying the anatomy and internal structure of man, in particular, he studied the structure of the brain well.

The artist did not fail to hint about this in the ceiling fresco “The Creation of Adam.” The Creator, surrounded by angels, is depicted surrounded by scarlet fabric, its shape surprisingly reminiscent of the human brain. The position of the creator's hands, as well as the faces of the angels, repeat the main parts of the brain. Thus, Buonarroti declares that man was created not just by an abstract holy spirit, but is a product of a higher mind.

One of the fiercest critics of Michelangelo's work, Biagio da Cesena, was immortalized in the fresco "The Last Judgment". The artist, who almost completely painted the altar wall of the chapel, in response to the predilection for excessive nudity of the characters, depicted the champion of morality in the grotesque image of Minos, the king of the dungeons.

Unlike the shameless saints, Minos is depicted with a serpent wrapped around his hips, which absorbs his manhood.

Another interesting fact is that the master valued the beauty of the nude above all else and gave preference to the male body. In all the frescoes, female characters are depicted with pronounced athletic figures.

Where is it, how to get there, tickets, opening hours

Address: Viale Vaticano, Cappella Sistina

on line A to Ottaviano station
by tram No. 19, Piazza del Risorgimento station;
by bus No. 49, entrance to the Vatican Museum next to the stop; No. 32, 81, 982, Piazza del Risorgimento station; No. 492, 990, Via Leone IV / Via degli Scipion station;
you can stop at a paid parking lot near the museums;
on Taxi you can drive to Viale Vaticano, the entrance to the museum will be opposite.

Working hours: Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 to 18:00, you can buy a ticket from 9:00 to 16:00.

Individual excursions: possible only with . We sincerely recommend it.

Tickets: The Sistine Chapel is available with a single admission ticket to the Vatican Museums. A full ticket costs 16 euros, a reduced ticket costs 8 euros. To bypass the kilometer-long line at the ticket office, you can purchase a ticket on the Vatican ticket office website at , paying an additional 4 euros for pre-order.

Features of the visit: Photos and video shooting are prohibited!

A high and inconvenient ceiling for work, a lack of ready-made paints, a complex painting technique, 1115 square meters of space, four and a half years of time, an impatient and capricious customer and a sculptor who hastily had to retrain as a painter... The history of painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel by the efforts of one medium-sized Michelangelo often seems like a beautiful legend behind which hides a paint gun invented by some second Leonardo, or Doctor Who, who flew in in his blue booth to help the artist with 25th century technologies.

“No one else has made or will make such an excellent work, and it is hardly possible, with all the efforts, to repeat what has been done.”
Giorgio Vasari

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
1512

Perhaps, we can consider the father of the legend about the single-handed painting of the vault to be Michelangelo’s younger contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, a strong but not outstanding painter and the author of “Biographies of Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects” - a work that is undoubtedly priceless, but in places surprisingly inaccurate.

Giorgio Vasari. Self-portrait. (between 1550 and 1567).
101×80 cm. Uffizi Gallery, Florence

According to Vasari, the sculptor received the order for the painting “thanks to” his competitor, the architect Bramante, who “convinced His Holiness to order Michelagnolo. He had no experience in fresco painting, this work is less rewarding and he will probably succeed less than Raphael; and even if he succeeded, they still decided to quarrel between him and the pope, in a word, they thought in one way or another to get rid of Michelagnolo.” However, it is possible that Julius came to this idea without the help of Bramante - he clearly enjoyed setting uncomfortable tasks for the obstinate young master and he already had the experience of a pinpoint battle with Michelangelo when he ordered his bronze equestrian statue (the sculptor had no experience in bronze casting ).

Emile Jean Horace Vernet. Pope Julius II discusses with Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael the project for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica
1827

It was indeed necessary to update the chapel - the previous simple painting depicting the starry sky was damaged due to the partially damaged ceiling, and after the repairs carried out by Bramante, there was a gaping “patch” on it.

Reconstruction of the Sistine Chapel ceiling c. 1481. 19th century engraving

Having suppressed Michelangelo’s resistance to the point “I will not paint, because I am not a painter,” the pope relented, and left the compositional decision to the will of the artist: “In the first draft of this work there were only twelve apostles in sails, and the rest was some kind of division, filled as usually with all sorts of decorations. Further, when the work had already begun, it seemed to me that the thing would turn out to be poor, and I told dad that if you make only apostles there, then the thing, it seems to me, will turn out to be poor. Then he gave me a new assignment, so that I would do whatever I wanted, that he would not offend me, and that I would paint everything, right down to the lower frescoes,” Michelangelo wrote to his friend Fattucci.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Delphic Sibyl. Fragment of the ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel
1509

That is, dad would be quite happy with a ceiling decorated with a dozen picturesque figures in the lower part, and then divided, for example, into caissons painted using the “trompe l’oeil” technique, or filled with “grotesques.” If the master had limited himself to this, then the execution “with one brush” in such a time would not have particularly surprised anyone. But Michelangelo did not look for the easy way out (or stalled a little, hoping that the client would change his mind).

We cannot say with certainty which theologians Michelangelo turned to for help in creating the painting program, but biographers carefully name as consultants a relative of Sixtus V, the author of many theological works, Cardinal Marco Viggero and Cardinal Egidio Antonini (da Vitebro), who was the main advisor to Pope Julius in theological matters.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Fragment. Noah's drunkenness.
1509

By the way, in the process of preparing the chapel for painting, Michelangelo managed to annoy Bramante in return by rejecting the suspended scaffolding he had built and replacing them with scaffolding of his own design. And also spoil the mood of several still living artists at that time, whose paintings were knocked down to clear space for his plan.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. God the Creator and four young men. Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel
1512

But sooner or later, he had to take up his brush - and here everything was not too brilliant for Michelangelo. Of course, he knew how to work with paints - after all, his first teachers were the painters Ghirlandaio, and, perhaps, they managed to introduce him to the technique of classical fresco painting. In any case, he felt capable enough to compete with Leonardo da Vinci for the right to paint the wall of the Palace of the Signoria. But such a brief acquaintance was clearly not enough for painting the Sistine Chapel, and Michelangelo decided to invite consultants. Vasari, full of respect for the teacher, sets out this story as follows:

“The enormity of the enterprise prompted Michelagnolo to look for assistants, for whom he sent to Florence, hoping with his works to defeat the masters who painted here before, and to show modern artists how to draw and paint. When he finished the cardboards he had begun and it was time to start fresco painting, several painters, his friends, came to Rome from Florence to help him in his work and to show him the techniques of fresco painting, in which some of them were experienced, among them them Granacci, Giuliano Bugiardini, Jacopo di Sandro, Indaco the Elder, Agnolo di Donnino and Aristotile, and, starting work, he asked them to do something for the experience. But seeing that all their labors did not meet his desires and could not satisfy him, one morning he decided to knock down everything they had done; shutting himself up in the chapel, he did not allow them there and did not even allow them to see him at home. Then they realized that if this was all a joke, then it lasted too long, and shamefully returned to Florence. Michelagnolo decided to do all the work himself, and with his great diligence and hard work brought it to a successful end, not accepting anyone, so as not to have a reason to show his work, thanks to which everyone’s desire to see it increased every day.”

If you remove all respect from the text, what remains is the bare and unpleasant essence - having received the necessary knowledge in fresco technique, Michelangelo forced his assistants to leave their work without explanation. The situation is ugly, but all biographers of the genius know that when the angels were dispensing good character and communication skills, Michelangelo once again stood up for talent.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Lunette of the Sistine Chapel. Jesse, David, Solomon

Having dispersed (according to Vasari) all the unnecessary people, the master finally took up the ceiling, on which he decided to depict the most important scenes from the Old Testament.

He intended to paint using the old, reliable technique “in the wet,” which required daily applying a thin layer of fresh plaster exactly to the area that you were going to paint. All plaster that was not used at the end of the work was supposed to be removed, and fresh plaster was added to it the next day. The boundaries between these one-day “jornata” pieces allow researchers to approximately calculate the number of days it took to complete the painting.

It should be noted that the skills acquired from the expelled painters were not entirely sufficient for the sculptor - the Roman lime for the top layer of plaster was different from the Florentine one, and the begun fresco quickly began to mold. At this moment, in the usual legend about a ceiling created by one master, one of the previously expelled appears - the painter Jacopo l'Indaco (or, according to Vasari, the architect Giuliano da Sangallo), who advised adding more sand to the base for painting.

Giuliano Burgiardini (Giuliano di Piero di Simone), "Portrait of Michelangelo with a Turban" (1522)

However, according to many art historians, the artists mentioned by Vasari, Giuliano Burgiardini and Francesco Granacci, also did not immediately “shamefully return to Florence,” but only after they had significantly helped Michelangelo.

All three painters knew each other from Ghirlandaio’s workshop. It is known that in the 1530s Michelangelo helped Burgiardin in creating the painting “The Martyrdom of St. Catherine." We do not know the names of his other assistants, but they undoubtedly were - the participation of other authors is recognized by researchers in certain decorative details - at least in architectural trompe l'oeil. Unfortunately, a significant part of their work was lost during the last restoration - Michelangelo allowed some fragments to be perfected using the “dry” technique, and this, unlike a classical fresco that adheres tightly to the plaster, does not tolerate cleaning with chemicals.

Michelangelo, The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise.
The image is composed of photographs before and after the restoration of 1980−94

It was precisely because of the fear of the death of the copybooks “on dry ground” that many experts resisted large-scale restoration of the fresco, despite the fact that due to centuries-old soot it had almost lost its color.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Sistine Chapel. Erythraean Sibyl.

Why is Vasari, who wrote his history, albeit much later than the painting of the ceiling, but undoubtedly during Michelangelo’s life, so convinced of the absence of assistants? Perhaps because when working specifically on this part of his work, Vasari was very biased - after all, we were not talking about any of the masters of the past, but about a contemporary, teacher and older friend.

Most likely, it never even occurred to him to doubt what his teacher told him about the events of almost forty years ago.

We do not know whether Michelangelo himself forgot the details of the work in the chapel or deliberately edited his memories. But, most likely, the real separation of the master from the Florentine assistants occurred after they jointly finished the part with the story of Noah. The story about how the master “one morning decided to knock down everything they had done” may refer to that part of the fresco that had to be significantly redone due to mold.

However, even after getting rid of the Florentines, Michelangelo undoubtedly kept his students with him, because the specifics of fresco painting in such squares do not imply that one single person (even a triple genius) prepares the surface himself, transfers the outline from cardboard onto the plaster himself, he rubs the paints himself - and all this without “connection with the earth”, on high scaffolding. Even Vasari, in his description of the master’s feat, still mentions one person who rubbed his paints.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Sistine Chapel.

On the other hand, even if there were three or four other people roaming the forests with him, Michelangelo still did an incredible job. About her hardships (incommensurate with the low pay), he himself wrote to Giovanni de Pistoia:

For my labor I only received a goiter, a sickness
(This is how muddy water makes cats swell,
In Lombardy there are often troubles!)
Yes, he wedged his chin into the womb;
The chest is like that of a harpy; skull, to spite me,
Climbed to the hump; and the beard stands on end;
And mud flows from the brush onto the face,
Dressing me in brocade, like a coffin;
The hips shifted completely into the stomach,
And the butt, in contrast, swelled into a barrel;
The feet do not suddenly meet the ground;
The skin hangs forward,
And at the back the fold is carved into a stitch,
And all of me is arched like a Syrian bow.
Among these troubles
My mind came to strange judgments
(Bad shooting with a broken sarbakan!):
So! Painting is flawed!
But you, Giovanni, be brave in defense:
After all, I am an alien, and the brush is not my destiny!

There is a common misconception that Michelangelo painted the ceiling while lying on scaffolding. In fact, the master worked standing up, throwing his head up - this is confirmed by Michelangelo’s caricature and the location of the holes made to support the scaffolding.

Because of this uncomfortable position, Michelangelo was forced to read for some time, holding the book above his head, even after the painting.

Autocaricature “Michelangelo Painting a Fresco” (marginal drawing of Michelangelo’s letter to Giovanni de Pistoia)

A quarter of a century later, when Michelangelo was painting the Last Judgment in the same Sistine Chapel, Sebastiano del Piombo, who had previously been a friend of the sculptor, tried to intervene in the work process.
Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Last Judgment, fresco of the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, detail: Christ with Mary

Wanting to save the old master from the hardships of a “real fresco,” he persuaded Pope Paul III to paint the fresco “dry” and even ordered the surface to be prepared for it. To which Michelangelo (according to Vasari) immediately explained to everyone that working “dry” was the lot of women and rich lazy people like del Piombo, and ordered everything to be cleaned and re-primed properly.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, fresco of the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel “The Last Judgment”, fragment - Christ with the Virgin Mary

Despite his age, the master allowed only Urbino, who was his servant, assistant, and friend, to seriously assist in this work, allowing him to paint the background in some places, while the rest of the “support group” was trusted to prepare paints and the next areas for painting.

Daniele da Volterra. Portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti
1544, 88.3×64.1 cm

True, later it was not possible without the student’s large-scale participation in this work - when in 1564 it was decided to cover the naked bodies in the fresco with clothes, this dubious honor fell to Michelangelo’s student, Daniele da Volterra (who received the contemptuous nickname “pants writer” for his work) ). To his credit, Volterra made his notes very carefully, and all of them were quite easily removed over time, except for the fragment from St. Catherine, cut out and completely replaced by paintings by Volterra.

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Sistine Chapel - a complete overview of the ceiling paintings

The most famous chapel of the Vatican was built by the architect Giovannino de Dolci according to the design of Baccio Pontelli between 1475 and 1481, during the reign of Pope Sixtus IV (after whom it took its name).

Now the Sistine Chapel is a vast rectangular hall to the right of the nave of St. Peter's Basilica, with an oval vault, divided into two unequal parts by a marble fence made by Mino da Fiesole together with Giovanni Dalmata and Andrea Bregno. They are also the authors of the choir department. But the most important value of the Sistine Chapel is undoubtedly the frescoes of its walls and vault, especially the frescoes by Michelangelo, which are rightfully considered the pinnacle of Renaissance art. However, they appeared here later than others written by his talented predecessors between 1481-1483.

Thus, the wall opposite the altar and two side walls were painted by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Luca Signorelli, Cosimo Rosselli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Botticelli. But Michelangelo brought her fame incomparable to anything else. Here one can still feel the presence of this man, whose consciousness could accommodate and hand fulfill the incredible plan preserved on the vaults of the chapel. For many years, the great Michelangelo continued his work with immeasurable persistence. At that time, the vault was a celestial sphere strewn with stars, and Michelangelo was specially summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II to paint this huge expanse of the vault. Michelangelo worked on the frescoes of the chapel from 1508 to 1512. His craving for the majestic and monumental, perhaps, was nowhere so vividly embodied as in the figures of the Prophets and Sibyls. The middle belt of the vault is decorated with nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the world famous fresco of the Creation of Man. A quarter of a century later, between 1536-1541, Michelangelo returned to the Sistine Chapel, this time under Pope Paul III Farnese. His new huge fresco of the Last Judgment occupies the entire altar wall of the chapel. To create it, we had to abandon two frescoes painted by Perugino and brick up two huge lancet windows. Michelangelo makes the center of the rapid movement in a circle the figure of Christ, who condemns sinners with an expressive dramatic gesture.

Paul the Third, accompanied by his master of ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, often came to see Michelangelo's work. One day he asked Cesena his opinion about the artist’s work: “Your Grace, these figures would be appropriate somewhere in a tavern, and not in your chapel!” Michelangelo responded by painting Biaggio as Minos, and when the master of ceremonies asked the pope to force him to remove this portrait, Paul III replied: “If Michelangelo had placed you “above,” I could still do something, but here, “below.” "I have no power."

In 1565, the painter Daniele de Volterra draped the nude figures of the Last Judgment characters, for which he received the nickname “Bragettone” (underwear), under which he forever remained in history. But he did not touch the figure of Minos.
Recent restoration, carried out using the latest technology using computer developments, has returned the frescoes to their former brightness and power of light and shade. With the help of a Japanese television company, which provided the most modern equipment and other high technologies, it was possible to photograph and video record every single detail of Michelangelo’s priceless frescoes that painted the vault of the Sistine Chapel, as well as his frescoes of the Last Judgment, which made it possible to significantly reduce the time of restoration work .

The results of the restoration, begun in 1981 and completed in 1994, raised eyebrows even among scientists and experts, since they refuted the statement cited in all literary sources concerning Michelangelo's work. It was generally accepted that the artist, who was in constant search for a suitable color scheme, usually used dim colors. However, during the restoration work, the true colors of the frescoes, faded by candle smoke and atmospheric influences, emerged. And many of those who came to the updated chapel simply did not believe it - the artist’s original images turned out to be too strong and the colors too bright. Some art historians still defend the old chapel, which is covered with candle soot and dirt accumulated over several centuries.

Even today, especially solemn ceremonies take place in the Sistine Chapel, most notably the famous Conclave, a meeting of cardinals at which a new pope is elected. The Romans gathered in the square learn about the results of the vote thanks to a conventional smoke signal: white smoke announces the election of a new pope, black smoke indicates the continuation of the Conclave.

1. God created Adam. Painting in the Sistine Chapel.

2. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

3. Scheme of ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

4. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Above: Separation of light and darkness.
Below: Jonah.
Top left: Hermia.
Top right: Libyan Sibylla.
In the lower right corner: Moses raises the Bronze Serpentine.
In the lower left corner: Haman, convicted and killed. - This part of the ceiling was completed around 1511, when Michelangelo Buonarotti was 59 years old.

5. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. At the top of the picture: The separation of Earth and Water.
Below: Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Planet. Both were completed in 1511.

6. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Top of the painting: The Creation of Eve, 1509, when Michelangelo was 57 years old.
Below: The Creation of Adam is the centerpiece of the ceiling.

7. Top of the picture: Noah and his family make a sacrifice to God after they are saved from the great flood.
Below: Fall and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, 1509.

8. At the top of the picture: Noah is drunk and disgraced.
Below: The Great Flood.

9. Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - in the center: Zaeria.
Top left: Judith kills Holofernes.
Top right: David kills Goliath.
Bottom right: Jacob and Joseph.
Bottom left: Eliza and Matan.

10. Sistine Chapel, back wall - Last Judgment (Michelangelo Buonarotti - 1539, when he was 87 years old).
The angels, in the middle, blow their horns to rise from the dead. One of them holds the Book in which everything is written, and on which Jesus will base his judgments.

1 1. Sistine Chapel - Center of the Last Judgment. The main figure is Jesus Christ, who decides the fate of the human race. With a gesture of his hand, he curses most of humanity, sending them to hell, but some of them are saved, and go to heaven. It seems that even Madonna, who is next to him, crouched in fear of such a scene.

12. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is the northern wall of the Prophets and Foretellers. From left to right: Libyan Prophetess, Daniel, Cumae Prophetess, Isaiah and Delphic Prophetess.

13. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is the southern wall of the Prophets and Foretellers. From left to right: Joel, Eritrean Fortune Teller, Izakel, Persian Fortune Teller, Jeremiah.

14. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - Baptism of Jesus (Pietro Perugino, 1482)
Middle: The Baptism of Jesus.
Right: Preacher John the Baptist.
In the upper left corner: the circumcision of the son of Moses.

15. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - temptation of Jesus (Botticelli (Sandro Filipepi) 1481-1482) After his baptism, Jesus goes through a 40-day fast. The devil asks him to turn a stone into bread, thus proving that he is the son of God. Jesus refused: But he answered, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

16. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - Calling of the first disciples (Domenico Girlandaio, 1481-1482)
The calling of Peter and Andrew, the first followers of Jesus, is shown in two scenes .

17. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - Sermon on the Mount (Cosimo Roselli, 1481-1482)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave out rules that would become Christian principles.

18. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - Presentation of the Keys (Pietro Perugino, 1481-1482)
Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Other followers are watching. They were joined by several non-biblical characters.

19. Sistine Chapel, North Wall - Last Supper (Cosimo Roselli, 1481-1482)
Jesus had just divided the bread and wine. He tells his followers that he will die soon. The apostles seem shocked.
One of the apostles is not surprised. This is Judas, who sits with his back, with a bag on his shoulder. It contains silver coins that he received for betraying Jesus.

20. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - Moses' Journey through Egypt. (Pietro Perugino, 1482)
On the right, Moses' son Eliezer with his mother Zipporah.
In the center, Moses is stopped by an angel depicted as God.

21. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - Several scenes from the life of Moses. (Botticelli (Sandro Filipepi), 1481-1482)
Bottom right: Moses kills an Egyptian who attacked a Jew.
When Pharaoh heard about the murder, Moses fled to the land of Midian.
There he drove away shepherds who were harassing the daughters of the local priest, Jethro. Subsequently, he allowed him to marry one of his daughters, Zipporah.

22. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - Crossing the Red Sea (Cosimo Roselli 1481-1482)
Moses leads his people across the Sea of Reed. He is pursued by Egyptian soldiers.

23. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - Moses with the Tables of the Law (Cosimo Roselli, 1481-1482)
Moses receives tables from God on Mount Sinai. The sleeping young man is Joshua.
Left, foreground: Moses and Joshua return and show the tables to the people.

24. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron (Boticelli (Sandro Filipepi), 1482)
Right: Joshua stops rebels preparing to stone Moses.
Center: Aron (with miter) is attacked by people who challenge his priesthood.
Left: Moses asks God to punish the rebels.

25. Sistine Chapel, South Wall - The last breath of Moses and his death (Luca Signorelli, 1481-1482)
Right: Moses addresses a crowd of listeners.
Left: He passes leadership to his successor, Joshua.
Center: An angel shows Moses the Promised Land, which he will never reach.
Left: People mourn his death.

26. Sistine Chapel, facing the altar.

27. In front of the entrance to the Sistine Chapel.

28. Sistine Chapel, outside view.

29. Sistine Chapel. Meeting of Pope Benedict XVI and artists from around the world.

Construction of the Sistine Chapel began in 1473 on the initiative of Pope Sixtus IV (in fact, the name of this landmark came from his name). Initially, there was already a papal house church on this site - Cappella Maggiore, but due to the acute political situation, it was decided to strengthen and rebuild it. At that time, the Pope was in confrontation with the powerful Florentine Medici family, and in addition he feared an attack by the Ottomans, and the beautiful chapel was conceived as a defensive fortification.

It was in these circumstances that the architect Baccio Pontelli designed this castle-church, and Giorgio de Dolce began construction. However, at the moment when interior finishing was required, the situation changed. The papal throne entered into an agreement with Lorenzo Medici, and after reconciliation, the arrival of the Florentine geniuses Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, who painted the walls and ceiling of the temple, became possible.

In total, the church took about 8 years to build, and then work on the interior decoration lasted another 2 years. In 1483 it was finally consecrated, and 9 years later the Conclave met here for the first time to choose a new pontiff.

The next Pope, Julius II, decided to restore the existing frescoes and supplement them with new paintings, for which purpose in 1508 he invited Michelangelo Buonarroti. It is interesting that the master himself considered himself more of an architect and sculptor than an artist - painting was a new and poorly mastered activity for him. It is believed that initially for these purposes they wanted to call another star of the Italian Renaissance - Raphael Santi (by the way, he also had a hand in the design). But be that as it may, Buonarroti worked on the ceiling, and 9 paintings from the “Book of Genesis” became one of the master’s best works.

Since Michelangelo worked on the painting for about 4 years, and during this period it was impossible to stop the services, the artist had to develop for himself special “flying” scaffolding, which was fixed right under the ceiling and did not interfere with the movements of people below.

A quarter of a century later, the 60-year-old artist once again returned to the arches of the Sistine Chapel to create another masterpiece - his famous “Last Judgment.” This huge fresco at the altar took more than 4 years, from 1536 to 1541. But the result was worth it - there is a legend that Pontiff Paul III was so shocked by the expressiveness of the painting that he fell on his knees in front of it in prayer.

Interesting fact: there is an opinion that Buonarroti's candidacy for painting the ceiling was proposed by his eternal enemy and rival Bramante - he wanted the master, who rarely painted, to be disgraced. However, not all historians agree with this version.

Today, the walls and ceiling of the chapel are considered an important historical heritage and are protected not only by the pontificate, but also by UNESCO. It itself remains a functioning temple and at the same time a very popular tourist destination - all excursions around the area end here.

Murals

Appearance

As already mentioned, the outside of the Sistine Chapel looks much more modest than the inside. But this building has one interesting feature - its parameters exactly repeat the dimensions of the legendary Temple of Solomon described in the Old Testament. The three-story building is 40.9 meters long and 13.4 meters wide. It stands on the foundations of an older papal church.

Sistine Chapel from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica

According to the architect's idea, the first floor was intended for worship, and the second and third were to house guns and soldiers. In particular, on the third floor you can still see narrow loophole windows - through them it was supposed to conduct targeted fire. Initially, the upper tier had no roof at all, and only when unique frescoes appeared in the temple, it was decided to make it covered so that dampness would not destroy the creations of great artists.

It is the second floor that interests tourists the most - spacious, with high ceilings and large lancet windows. They make the building look lighter from the outside, and also provide a lot of natural light to explore the interior. After all, there is something to see here - the walls are decorated not with banal angels, but with huge detailed paintings depicting fragments of Holy Scripture.

Interior decoration

Initially, 16 frescoes were painted on the walls of the Sistine Chapel, but two of them were destroyed when the architrave fell, and two more had to be removed to make way for Michelangelo's monumental Last Judgment. A total of 12 paintings have been preserved - on the northern side there are scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, and on the southern side there are frescoes based on the life of Moses. This layout of the painting was intended to demonstrate the connection between the Old and New Testaments.

Above the subject frescoes in the openings between the windows there is a row of portraits - these are images of pontiffs of the early Christian period who died a martyr's death and were canonized. And the lowest tier of the hall (under the frescoes) was previously hung with tapestries made based on the subjects of Raphael’s paintings. However, to this day, only 7 paintings have survived, which are stored in the museum. Instead of original tapestries, the lower part of the walls is decorated with copies, but they are visible to visitors only on major holidays.

Ceiling and Last Judgment by Michelangelo

When finishing the main hall, its vault was painted in the form of a starry sky, but during the reign of Julius II, restoration of the cracked painting took place, and it was decided to redo the ceiling. Michelangelo Buonarroti worked on it for more than 4 years, depicting a total of 343 biblical characters.

The central part of the vault is occupied by 9 paintings illustrating the stages of the creation of the world, the creation of Adam and Eve, their fall, as well as the Flood, the sacrifice and the intoxication of Noah. These are the nine famous scenes from the Book of Genesis. They are surrounded by triangles and lunettes with images of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, and between them are inserted portraits of famous biblical prophets and sibyls. Finally, in the corners of the vault you can see 4 scenes: the battle of David and Goliath, the punishment of Amman, the plot with Moses and the copper serpent, as well as Judith and Holofernes.

Today this painting evokes admiration, but it is known that the customer, Julius II, on the contrary, showed dissatisfaction - they say that the ceiling looks too poor, there is not enough shine. To which Michelangelo wittily retorted: the saints were poor people, where does brilliance come from?

Vault diagram

As for the Last Judgment, which occupied the entire wall behind the altar, this painting was completed after the death of Julius II. It was commissioned by Clement VII, who wanted to contribute to the decoration of such an important Vatican hall. However, this pontiff also died before the master could begin the commission, and Michelangelo began work only during the reign of Paul III. The artist, already at the advanced age of 60 (this is a lot for Renaissance Italy), painted such a huge picture with only one assistant, and even used him only for mixing paints.

In total, about 400 figures are depicted on the canvas, which tells about the second coming of Christ. As with the ceiling, the work took over four years and was completed on the same date as the painting of the ceiling.

Interesting fact: Michelangelo, being a connoisseur of the human body, depicted many characters naked, but there were critics who were outraged by the “indecent” picture. A quarter of a century later, the artist Daniele da Volterra had to finish painting the capes and loincloths on the “Last Judgment,” for which he remained in history under the ironic nickname “pants writer.”

How to get to the Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is located on the territory of the Vatican in the very center of Rome. This building ends the western wing of the museums, where the Arazzi Gallery is located, as well as the galleries of geographical maps and candelabra. It is easy to get here by different means of transport.

The exact address: 00120 Vatican City, Rome.

From the central railway station TERMINI:

Option 1

Metro: From TERMINI station, take line A to Cipro Musei Vaticani station.

On foot: walk from the station for about 10 minutes via Via Candia and Via Frà Albenzio.

Option 2

Metro: from TERMINI station get to S.Pietro station, which is located on lines FL5 and FL3.

On foot: walk from the metro station along Via Innocenzo III, then through the Vatican territory or bypass via Via Sant’Anna - travel time is about 20 minutes.

Option 3

On foot: From the railway station, go along Piazza dei Cinquecento, then along Viale Enrico de Nicola to the Volturno/gaeta stop (journey time 5 minutes).

Bus: Take route number 492 to the stop Bastioni Di Michelangelo.

On foot: from the stop through Piazza del Risorgimento in 4 minutes get to.

From Fiumicino Airport:

Option 1

Bus: Take the Sitbusshuttle in 50 minutes to get to Via Crescenzio, 2 (flights depart once every 30 minutes).

On foot: walk from the stop along Via Crescenzio, and then turn onto Via del Mascherino to St. Peter's Basilica - travel time is about 15 minutes.

Option 2

Train: Take the FM1 train line to TERMINI station.

Metro: Take the red line from TERMINI station to Cipro Musei Vaticani station.

On foot: Walk from the metro station along Via Candia and Via Frà Albenzio for about 10 minutes.

In addition, you can get from different parts of the city by buses No. 23, 32, 49, 81, 247, 490, 495, 590 and tram No. 19.

Sistine Chapel on the map

Opening hours and ticket prices

As a rule, the Sistine Chapel is visited along with a tour of others - this is where excursion tours usually end. However, if you wish, you can visit this attraction separately.

Schedule:

Monday through Saturday.

Opening hours:

From 09:00 to 18:00 (entrance until 17:30).

Night tour - museum visits and concert:

From 19:00 to 23:00.

All museums, including the chapel, can be visited with a single ticket, which is purchased at the box office. Perhaps - in this case, a voucher is purchased on the Vatican website, which will then be exchanged for a ticket at the box office. Such a reservation allows you to quickly enter the museum territory and avoid standing in queues.

Ticket price for an independent visit:

Adult - 17 € ( ~1,197 rub. );
Child (from 6 to 18 years old) - 8 € ( ~564 rub. );
Night tour - 38 € ( ~2,677 rub. ) and 29 € ( ~2,043 rub. );
Audio guide with description in Russian - 7 € ( ~493 rub. );
~282 rub. ).

You can also buy tickets with breakfast or lunch at the Vatican. But keep in mind that in order to be in time for breakfast at 08:15, you need to be at the entrance at 07:15.

Ticket price with guide:

Adult ticket - 33 € ( ~2,325 rub. );
Child ticket - 24 € ( ~1,691 rub. ).

Important: On the last Sunday of the month, free entry to the Sistine Chapel is allowed; the opening hours on this day are from 09:00 to 14:00.

Virtual tour

The Sistine Chapel is a truly unique place with a special atmosphere. Some people try to get here on church holidays to hear the world-famous Capella Papale choir, while others choose a weekday and morning tour to look at antiquities and great works of art without a crowded crowd. In any case, a visit to the heart of Rome will remain in your memory forever. Moreover, this temple is far from the only attraction of the Vatican; within one excursion you can see all its museums and, of course, St. Peter's Basilica.

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Electronic booking - 4 € ( ~282 rub. );

Ticket price with guide:
Adult ticket - 33 € ( ~2,325 rub. );
Child ticket - 24 € ( ~1,691 rub. )