During these two units, the Italian and Northern Renaissance, a piece that stuck out to me was the “Sistine Chapel Ceiling.” This chapel is very popular around the whole world, and it’s for this specific piece of artwork in the interior. While looking at the pictures of this incredible piece of artwork, it puts me in amazement and curiosity. The amount of time and hard work that went into this piece is shown in every intricate detail, and each section of this piece. This ceiling fresco is named as a whole, however each section on the ceiling is telling its own story. The different sections, allows the audience to take each piece as an individual, and then put it all together on the wall, at the end of the walkway. The presentation of this piece is absolutely astounding. Firstly, the fact that it’s on a ceiling is amazing but the fact that its throughout the whole chapel is even more unbelievable.
Something that stuck out to me was the great amount of detail and the many colors that were used throughout this piece. As I was reading more information about this piece I found out that this fresco was organized by the different stories from the bible (Wikipedia, 2019). Each color brought the pictures to life, and made every detail pop out. I thought it was quite fascinating that the artist, Michelangelo, worked around the beams and poles on the ceiling, and incorporated them into his piece, to separate the different stories.
Something else that caught my attention was the use of chiaroscuro. The middle piece, “The Creation of Adam,” was a great example of this especially (Wikipedia, 2019). The hands reaching out to each other, made the image pop and look as though the hands were 3-dimensional.
Since I enjoy admiring this piece so much, I would definitely own a copy. However, since this piece is so large in size, I would still enjoy just a picture of the fresco/mural. Something I would enjoy even more than a picture, is getting to see this piece in real life one day. That would be amazing and quite an experience. The backstory of this piece took place during the Italian Renaissance, which is the time when religion was an influencing matter. In the lesson of the Italian Renaissance, I also learned that it was a time that Roman ideals were very important, which I believe inspired this fresco to be created.
Including the fact that this artwork is painted inside of a chapel, this piece was, and still is very important to the reinvention of Rome by the Catholic Church. Each one of these sections has its own section from the bible, of which had a major influence on the Catholic Church. While reading an article, I found out that when the Pope returned from Rome, he told Michelangelo to paint this fresco in the chapel (Wikipedia, 2019).
Overall, this fresco of the “Sistine Chapel Ceiling,” created a new outlook for the community and allows the visitors to get a deeper understanding on just how much this church brought Rome back to life. I believe that this piece brought hope to the people of the community and around the world. I also believe that this piece showed the world just how much art influences people and the stories behind them.
References;
“Sistine Chapel Ceiling.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Sept. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling.
The Italian Renaissance Lesson
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