HUMANITIES: ITALIAN RENAISSANCE - PAINTING

HUM2230 – Lec1_Ital_Renais_painting - power point notes

(2) Renaissance Painters: Early & High Renaissance (list)

(3) False perspective example - Interestingly, perspective can also be used as to create false perspective, such as here.

(4) Or in M.C. Escher’s works (though he wasn’t Renaissance).

(5) Comparison 14th century (?) Giotto, with Botticelli - perspective

(6) Masaccio: Holy Trinity & Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

Masaccio (December 21, 1401 – autumn 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great painter of the Early period of the Italian Renaissance. The name Masaccio is a humorous version of Maso (short for Tommaso), meaning "big", "fat", "clumsy" or "messy" Tom. The name may have been created to distinguish him from his principal collaborator, also called Maso, who came to be known as Masolino ("little/delicate Tom").

The ‘Virgin’ work was perhaps Masaccio's first collaboration with the older and already-renowned artist, Masolino da Panicale (1383/4-c. 1436). The circumstances of the 2 artists' collaboration are unclear.

(7) Masaccio, Holy Trinity (p.15)

What aspect of the picture (and full title – Trinity with the Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and Donors – demonstrate humanism in the Renaissance? (donors have a real presence in the scene)

Below the Holy Trinity we find St. John (to the right) and the Virgin Mary (to the left), and below them two kneeling donors (husband and wife).

Below the donors is an altar (a masonry insert into the fresco), and below the altar is a tomb that features a skeleton and a Latin inscription that says “I was what you are and what I am you shall be.” The inscription is a momento mori (a reminder of death) that points one to the means of salvation (the Holy Trinity) above.

(8) Masaccio’s Holy Trinity - aspects

A fresco is both a painting done on a wall and the technique used to create such a painting – either on a wet or dry plaster surface.

Classical revival: interest in the antique– coffered barrel vault, Ionic and Corinthian capitals & moldings—all based on ancient Roman models.

(9) Brunelleschi – Linear Perspective diagram

(10) Perspective lines – Holy Trinity (Masaccio)

The convergence point is at the foot of the cross, pulling the upper portion of the fresco together with the lower portion, proclaiming the message that if you want salvation from death, you must go through the Holy Trinity (T. Meek)

(11) Masaccio (1401-1429) – The Tribute Money [fig 13.12] finished 1428. 8’1” x 19’7” Fresco - “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.”

The episode depicts the arrival in Capernaum of Jesus and the Apostles, based on the account given in Matthew's Gospel. Jesus tells Peter to look for money in the mouth of a fish. Where is the one-point perspective, vanishing point? behind Jesus’ head.

Masaccio has included the three different moments of the story in the same scene: What are the three parts of the story? the tax collector's request, with Jesus's immediate response indicating to Peter how to find the money necessary, is illustrated in the center; Peter catching the fish in Lake Genezaret and extracting the coin is shown to the left; and, to the right, Peter hands the tribute money to the tax collector in front of his house. Showing different moments of a story in the same picture, or sculpture, is called what? Continuous narration

[context] This episode, stressing the legitimacy of the tax collector's request, has been interpreted as a reference to the lively controversy in Florence at the time on the proposed tax reform; the controversy was finally settled in 1427 with the institution of an official tax register, which allowed a much fairer system of taxation in the city.

The scenes are enhanced by—duplicating the optical phenomenon of the atmosphere’s ability to modify the clarity and color of objects at a distance. What is the term for this technique? atmospheric (aerial) perspective

Figures seem to be in three-dimensional space. What is the term for the natural pose of the tax collector? contrapposto

How is the individualism aspect of Renaissance humanism shown here? All faces individualized – Masaccio’s models from peasant class.

What classical humanism elements are depicted? The characters are entirely classical: dressed in the Greek fashion, with . . . . And even Peter's stance, as he extracts the coin from the fish's mouth, with his right leg bent and his left one outstretched, is reminiscent of postures of many statues by Greek artists, as well as reliefs on various carvings.

Strong contrast between light and shadow – almost sculptural figures moving in space – light coming from chapel. (died at age 27)

(12) Masaccio: The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, depicts a distressed Adam and Eve, chased from the garden by a threatening angel. Adam covers his face to express his shame, while Eve's shame requires her to cover her body. The fresco had a huge influence on Michelangelo.

1426-27 Fresco, 208 x 88 cm fresco in a chapel in Florence

This fresco was cut at the top during the 18th century architectural alterations. This is one of the frescoes in the chapel which has suffered the greatest damage, for the blue of the sky has been lost.

The scene has been compared to Masolino's fresco of the Temptation on the opposite wall. Masaccio's concrete and dramatic portrayal of the figures, his truly innovative Renaissance spirit, stand in striking contrast to Masolino's late Gothic scene, lacking in psychological depth.

Couple is approaching the light – casting natural shadows; surrounding figures with light and air, relating them to the space they occupy; so they appear as if seen in the round – he achieved an important innovation in painting – atmospheric perspective.

He portrays the drama with the body alone with virtually no reliance on surrounding details; Eve, aware of her nakedness, cries aloud; Adam, ashamed to face the light, expresses remorse by covering his face.

Even the avenging angel, while driving them out of the garden reflects the tragedy of the fall from grace by an expression of human concern and compassion.

(13) Art Restoration example: Masaccio’s Expulsion

(8, 246) His Expulsion from the Garden was a subject in the iconographical tradition in which the nude human body could be portrayed in churches without raising eyebrows. However, we see that it must have raised some eyebrows in its original form. When it was cleaned in the 1980s, Masaccio's the fresco lost the added fig leaves

(15) Piero della Frencesca (ca. 1406/12-1492) – portraitures – Renaissance concern for the individual;

husband and wife Battista Sforza & Federico da Montefeltro [figs 13.14 & 13.15]

heads held high, noble, grand. Profiles popular. Wife – plucked and shaved forehead. The count had lost right eye and bridge of nose to sword tournament – Peiro presents him “warts and all.”

Landscape in background - detailed

(16) Francesca: Resurrection (c. 1460 Fresco 9’6” x 8’4”)

Studying Masaccio and associating with other ‘greats,’ he did become a master of linear perspective and wrote an essay about it and essays about mathematical subjects.

His Resurrection– geometrical clarity of design; compact pyramidal composition building up from sleeping soldiers (second from left is generally thought to be a self-portrait);

This is not in the text: Tell me some things you notice about, e.g., color & lighting, contrasting elements, geometry, classical elements.

· Christ modeled like a classical statue;

· Color contrasts, light and shade – play important roles in mechanics and symbolism. Somber tones of soldier’s costumes offset by radiant pink of Christ’s robe.

· Dark-clad soldiers, paralleled by the shadowy earth – alternating rhythm with the flowing figure of Jesus against the Easter dawn.

· Barren earth on the left yields to the springtime rebirth of the fields on the right.

The effect of the brightening sky above, together with the radiant spirit of Christ with his piercing, almost hypnotic gaze, is reflected in the disturbed soldiers below, who though still asleep, are just beginning to be aware of the new dawn. (8, 250)

(18) Angelico: Annunciation [fig 13.16] [1438-45] monastery of San Marco. In 1436 Fra Angelico was one of a number of the friars from who moved to the newly-built monastery of San Marco in Florence. - part of vast project.

What is “Annunciation”? What is the story? This is another very popular subject for artists. Gentle graceful gestures (Mary and Gabriel).

Cosimo de Medici urged Fra Angelico to begin decorating the monastery, including the Annunciation at the top of the stairs leading to the cells.

(19) Angelico: Maestà (Madonna enthroned)

In 1439 he completed one of his most famous works, the Altarpiece for St. Marco's, Florence.

The result was unusual for its times. Images of the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by saints were common, but they usually depicted a setting that was clearly heavenlike, in which saints and angels hovered about as divine presences rather than people.

But in this instance, the saints stand squarely within the space, grouped in a natural way as if they were able to converse about the shared experience of witnessing the Virgin in glory.

(20) Sandro Botticelli: Adoration of the Magi

[1445-1510] Botticelli was a representative artist of the humanistic thought that dominated the latter half of the century;

Individualism: enjoyed patronage of the Medici family – he portrays the Medici clan in Adoration of the Magi (c. 1475 tempura on wood 3’7” x 4’4 ¾”) Elderly Cosimo – kneeling at feet of Christ Child. Also kneeling are his two sons, Piero and Giovanni. Right, standing against ruined wall – profiled figure of Giuliano, handsom grandson & younger brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent – who is in the extreme left foreground.

His opposite person on the right is usually identified as Botticelli himself. The coloring is bright, but falls into a harmonious pattern.

The Roman ruin in the left background provides a classical touch. (8, 251)

(23) Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) – Primavera [fig 13.17] Allegory of Spring

What is the main humanist element? complex allegory of spring from Latin writers Horace and Lucretius; classical literature and Neoplatonist pagan mythology blended with Christian parallels.

Unconcerned with representation of deep space; master of line; figures clearly outlined; seem to flow along rhythmic lines of a dance or procession – as if blown on the breath of Zephyrus, god of the west wind, shown with cheeks puffed – far right.

What is the Story? Who are these characters in the drama?

· Why would we ‘read’ the story from right to left?
– gentle south wind, Zephyr, is pursuing the shy nymph of springtime, Chloris.

· As he impregnates her, flowers spring from her lips, and she is transformed into Flora, goddess of flowers, in an appropriately flowery robe. (As told by Roman poet Ovid, “I was once Chloris, who am now called Flora.”) (different from the text)

· This figure also refers to Florence, an allusion not lost on the citizens of the city of flowers.

· The blind Cupid is shooting an arrow toward Castitas (Chastity), the youthful central dancer of the three graces.

· Her partners are the bejeweled Pulchritudo (Beauty) and Vouptas (Passion).

· Their transparent, gauzy drapery vibrates with the figures of their dance to create a ballet of rhythmic flowing lines. . .

· At far left stands Mercury, both the leader of the three graces and the fleet-footed god of the winds.As Virgil wrote, “With his staff he drives the winds and skims the turbid clouds.” Lifting his magic staff, the Caduceus, he completes the circle by directing his opposite number, Zephyr, to drive away the wintry clouds and make way for spring.

On the philosophical plane, Mercury is dispelling the clouds that veil the intellect so that the light of reason can shine through. Presiding over the entire scene is the meditating figure of the goddess of love.

Pico della Mirandola observed that the “unity of Venus is unfolded in the trinity of the three graces.” She also reminds the viewer that love is the tie that binds both the picture and the world together. This picture demonstrates the Renaissance humanists’ concern with the revival of classical forms, figures, and imagery.

(24) Botticelli: The Birth of Venus (c. 1480 Tempera on canvas, 6’7” x 9’2”)

· According to one Greek myth, Aphrodite or Venus, was born from the sea after the god Cronos castrated his father Uranus.

· Uranus’ testicles fell into the goddess Oceanus, and Aphrodite was the result.

· Botticelli revives the story and depicts Venus riding a cockle shell shortly after her birth.

· As pink roses fall all around, two zephyrs blow Venus toward an island (Cythera or Cyprus) where an attendant waits to adorn her with a brocaded mantle. (Meek’s notes)

[text notes] Birth of Venus [fig 13.18]– . . Why did artists choose mythology subjects for paintings? Why are these subjects, particularly Venus, acceptable to the church?

· More acceptable to the Christian Church by equating Venus with Jesus’s mother Mary on the grounds that both were sources of love. Painted for Lorenzo Medici.

· According to Neoplatonic interpretation, the birth of Venus is equivalent to the birth of the human soul, as yet uncorrupted by the matter of the world.

· The soul is free to choose for itself whether to follow a path toward sin and degradation or to attempt to regain, through the use of reason, a spiritual perfection manifested in the beauty of creation and felt in the love of God.

· To love beauty is to love not the material world of sensual things, but rather the world’s abstract and spiritual essence.

Triad of figures: Chaste Hora (one of the Hours present at classical births) is rushing in with the robe.

The blowing winds on the left are called amorous zephyrs [by Poliziano].

The clarity of outline, the balletlike choreography of lines, and pattern of linear rhythms recall the technique of relief sculpture.

(26) Girolamo Savonarola – Bonfire of Vanities

Boticelli: under spell of Savonarola

Lorenzo's patronage of Botticelli continued where his father's left off. Despite Lorenzo's magnanimous patronage, however, Botticelli's bright star was soon to fade. As the High Renaissance was ushered in at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Botticelli had already fallen into disfavor, at times barely surviving on the brink of starvation. Highly successful at the height of his career, Botticelli's life ended with more of a whimper than a bang, as he died in quite a tragic manner in relative obscurity.

How did the high fall so low? Botticelli fell under the spell of a Dominican monk, a fanatical, religious reformer named Girolamo Savonarola, and one of the primary targets of Savonarola's sermons was Lorenzo the Magnificent himself. Lorenzo de' Medici was the de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, although officially it was ruled by the Signoria, a council comprised of qualified guild members.

Savonarola had a profound affect on artists as evidenced in the religious content of their art works.

Botticelli turned his mind back to religious themes, but his Medicean patronage dried up with the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492.

(click) Girolamo Savonarola (21 September 1452, Ferrara, – 23 May 1498, Florence)

was an Italian Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498..

(click) In his youth he studied the Bible, St. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle.

(click) He vehemently preached against the moral corruption of much of the clergy at the time, and his main opponent was Rodrigo Borgia, who was Pope Alexander VI from 1492, through Savonarola's death.

(click) He also preached against the lavish lifestyles of the wealthy. Such fiery preaching was not uncommon at the time, but a series of circumstances quickly brought Savonarola great success.

. . . One was the Medici family's weakening grip on power owing to the French-Italian wars. The flowering of expensive Renaissance art and culture paid for by wealthy Italian families now seemed to mock the growing misery in Italy, creating a backlash of resentment among the people.

Another disaster occurring at this time was the appearance of syphilis (or the “French pox”). Finally, the year 1500 was approaching, which may have brought about a mood of millennialism. In minds of many, the Last Days were impending and Savonarola was the prophet of the day.[1]

He did not seek to make war on the Church of Rome. Rather, he wanted to reform and correct the transgressions of worldly popes and other church leaders.

After Charles VIII of France invaded Florence in 1494, the ruling Medici were overthrown and Savonarola emerged as the new leader of the city, combining in himself the role of secular leader and priest. He set up a republic in Florence. . . . In 1497, he and his followers carried out the Bonfire of the Vanities.

They sent boys from door to door collecting items associated with moral laxity: mirrors, cosmetics, lewd pictures, pagan books, immoral sculptures (which he wanted to be transformed into statues of the saints and modest depictions of biblical scenes), gaming tables, chess pieces, lutes and other musical instruments, fine dresses, women’s hats, and the works of immoral and ancient poets, and burnt them all in a large pile in the center of public life in Florence.[2]

Many fine Florentine Renaissance artworks were lost in Savonarola’s notorious bonfires.[3] Botticelli willingly participated in the bonfire, throwing many of his own paintings to the flames.

(click) Florence soon became tired of Savonarola because of the city’s continual political and economic miseries partially derived from Savonarola's opposition to trading and making money. . . , his following began to dissipate.

On May 13, 1497, Father Savonarola was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI, and in 1498, Alexander demanded his arrest and execution. Savonarola . . burned at the stake for heresy, having offended the Florentines and the pope one too many times.

Devastated by the loss of his spiritual leader, Botticelli ceased to paint after 1500 and lived in poverty until his death in 1510. Botticelli was sustained in his final years by the charity of the Medici who were then back in Florence waiting to resume the reins of power (1512).

(27) Botticelli: The Mystical Nativity oil paint on canvas.[1] [42.7” x 29.5”]

Botticelli's final work of 1500 is The Nativity.

Botticelli has accepted Savonarola's denunciation of realism:

What is so different about this painting; what makes it seem to be not like his earlier Renaissance paintings? The painting uses the medieval convention of showing the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus larger both than other figures, and their surroundings; this was certainly done deliberately for effect, as earlier Botticellis used correct graphical perspective.

He has made no attempt to create an illusion of depth, and has set the thatched penthouse in the centre of his scene, frontally to the spectator.

iconography: A set of specified or traditional symbolic forms associated with the subject or theme of a stylized work of art.

(28) HIGH RENAISSANCE: (intro) (ca 1485-1490 period when it begins in Italy)

A short ‘period of time,’ but highly influential on future art. Era said to have ended with death of Raphael in 1520, or when Rome was sacked in 1527 by troops of German Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Focus shifted to Rome – wealth and power of the popes.

Pope Julius II (1503-13) patron of Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo;

Pope Leo X (1513-21) patron of Michelangelo (excommunicated Martin Luther).

In Rome – the two national traditions of Italy converged—Classicism and Christianity.

This period continued interest in humanism, classicism, and individualism – some early artists’ ideas were perfected and other new techniques were developed.

(29) Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Man

Note: Leonardo lived in Florence (not Rome)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – Giorgio Vasari noted his “beauty as a person . . . pleasing in conversation” and his unstable temperament—often abandoning projects, constantly searching and restless.

Leonardo told Duke of Milan he was primarily a designer of military weaponry and only secondarily an architect, painter, drainage engineer, and sculptor – kept voluminous notebooks -epitome of what we now call a Renaissance, or universal man – talented in a wide range of endeavors.

Seemed to be frustrated and not able to complete many things he set out to do. As Michelangelo once said scornfully (and repented later): “He (Leonardo) would have all sorts of big ideas, and he could not find a man to drive his bellows.”

· None of his buildings progressed beyond the planning stage;

· his sculptures have all perished,

· and only about 17 generally accepted paintings remain; these include four that are unfinished – while the others exist in varying states of preservation, restoration, and repainting.

(30) Leonardo sketches: anatomist

rejected humanistic scholarship in favor of firsthand investigation, observation of nature, and constant experimentation. Considered the founder of modern scientific illustration.

The most important part of Leonardo’s thinking remained in the form of scattered notes interwoven with sketches, written mirrorwise from right to left to discourage prying curiosity.

(31) Leonardo’s Philosophic musings

(click) His guiding idea was not that the eye alone is able to see reality; but that the trained intent eye, the eye “knowing how to see,” which controls the skilled hand, can come as close to the hidden structure of reality as it is possible. . . .

This is not mere observational knowledge as we know it, nor experimental knowledge . . . It is operational and creative knowledge, or, as Leonardo calls it, “exact fantasy.”

The artist is the true philosopher in that he re-creates a nature in more quintessential terms – he has extracted from nature more than “meets the eye”—or the mind either.

“Mental things which have not gone in through the senses are vain and bring forth no truth except detrimental.” What are detrimental are the universal statements which close our minds to reality.

On the other hand, it takes artists to arouse passions at his will. The artist himself, like the philosopher, is above passion, for his mind is on the hidden substructure which reveals itself through his effort. Geometry, perspective, proportion and mechanics are the means whereby he is able, as artist and as engineer, to create or build afresh . . . (p. 69).

(click) [change and time] – Time is a continuous quantity, but does not fall under the purview of geometry.

Time is the pulse of creation and destruction and of the unfolding and change of forms. . . . long before Darwin, the idea of organic evolution reappears, and of the past and future of the globe as a life cycle.

In a sequence of grandiose drawings, Leonardo lets his imagination dwell on the hurricane of final dissolution. . . . a richer and subtler conception of time which will find understanding only in our own epoch.

(click) [on rejection of duality – and infinity] “There is no point in distinguishing between things natural and things divine, for all of them are natural and all of them are divine too, whichever way we choose to look at them.”

“Shock does not travel far in the earth; much more does water struck by water, as it moves in circles afar; even farther goes sound in the air, and farther still the spirit in the universe; but as it, too, is finite, it cannot extend throughout the infinite.” He thus sidesteps nineteen centuries of philosophy, and Christian speculation, based on the dualism of matter and spirit and looks intently at reality with fresh eyes.

He sees a more awesome subject of meditation in that “miraculous point,” the pupil of the eye, in which the universe converges, than does idealist philosophy in the truth which transcends Being. We may call this monistic naturalism, tinged with mythical vision. [Monism is the belief that all of the universe is tied together in ONE, as opposed to dualism which splits the cosmos into two realms – a material and spiritual).To develop this line of thinking further would have led Leonardo into trouble with the authorities on charges of heresy and certain death [which is probably why he wrote mirrorwise – he did not intend for others to read his private journals, at least not others during his time on earth].

(click) Man is, in true Renaissance manner, a microcosm within that macrocosm . . .

man is at the “cockpit,” he is an active transformer with all the possibilities within reach. . . .

On the other hand, Man acts as a variable of fearsome instability. He may turn out to have been nature’s greatest mistake. In nature good and evil are ambiguously present everywhere. The unconscious cruelty of animals is just part of nature’s design for richness and multiplicity, but man alone knows what suffering is, hence in inflicting it he becomes a monster.

In a world of order and reason, man alone is disorganized and senseless. . . .

Man’s role in nature has become that of the subverter, the ransacker and the destroyer. . . .

This paints a dismal, anti-Renaissance picture of the nature of man; and the fact that man has created laws and civilizations which have bespoken most of his philosophical endeavor, seems to not affect this artist at all. The foundation of society is still violence, as his friend Machiavelli may have reminded him. “Savage is he who saves himself.”

(32) Leonardo the Inventor

How is the philosopher-prophet to save Man? By orienting his capacity for change in the direction of his true nature, which is that of the user of reason.

So much had been indicted by Plato and Aristotle. But Leonardo’s way of understanding this – there are still “infinite causes in nature” that man can turn his energy to constrain, if he is given scope in the guiltless unbounded realms of artistic and technological creation.

Leonardo’s prolific engineering inventiveness stems from this philosophy, not merely on demands placed on him. Most of his machines were of no use to his time. “The great swan which will bring glory to its maker,” the submarine designs that he prefers not to divulge, . . . as the medieval myth suggested which made Alexander the Great attempt the air and depths of the sea after he found there was no more land to conquer.

In such achievements, da Vinci thinks, man may find at last his true role as transformer of nature, and rediscover innocence.

In his notebooks there is a section about The Flight of Birds where he muses that in order to understand how birds fly, one must understand the nature of the resistance of air in conjunction with the bird’s anatomy. He makes a note to “Dissect the bat, study it carefully, and on this model construct the machine”

(33) da Vinci: Madonna and Child with St. Anne

He preferred the natural lighting, atmospheric perspective, and sculpturesque modeling of Masaccio over the graceful linear approach of Botticelli.

In his drawing for Madonna and Child with St. Anne (charcoal and white chalk on paper 4’63/4” x 3’33/4”) all sharp lines are eliminated.

Through his subtle chiaroscuro he is able to penetrate those unfathomable depths and give visual shape to intuitions and state of mind – revealing true character and personality.

The grandmotherly St. Anne becomes the personification of benign tranquility;

Mary, the image of grace and maternal concern;

while the Christ child and St. John reveal the thoughtful gravity on those on whom the salvation of the world will depend.

(34) Leonardo: Madonna of the Rocks [fig 13.19] shows his fascination by all aspects of nature: geology – cliffs, mountains, stalactites and stalagmites. This painting also shows interrelated effects of perspective, light, color, and optics-naturalistic lighting and atmospheric perspective are taken to new heights.

chiaroscuro (Italian for clear or light and obscure or dark) describes Leonardo’s technique of working in areas of light and dark in space.

sfumato – Leonardo developed this – intentional suppression of the outline of a figure in a hazy, almost smoky atmosphere; his figures do not so much emerge from the darkness of the grotto as they are immersed in it – as if the grotto were the womb of the earth itself, and Mary was the resident mother goddess. Jesus blesses his cousin John (the Baptist), who represents the congregation of Christians, literally protected by Mary’s cloak (taken under her wing).

Figures form a pyramid grouping, a favorite Renaissance compositional device. [from text](T. Meek – slide)

(36) Leonardo: Mona Lisa: Probably the most famous portrait in the world.

Eyes always on the viewer. Wife of Florentine official. Relaxed, natural, half-length, three-quarter view, hands showing, set against a landscape – Leonardo established a type of portrait. High forehead – shaved eyebrows and hairline—indicates nobility.

(37) Mona Lisa: Enigmatic smile

Note – I looked up ‘enigmatic’ in an online dictionary and one of the ads on right-hand side had links to ‘mona lisa’ and ‘leonardo da vinci’ – discovered this:

The revelation : . . . “discover this incredible true love story hidden beneath Leonardo Da Vinci's sfumato during five centuries. Fabulous exposé, profusely documented, fantastically elaborated, brilliantly illustrated.”

(38) Raphael’s ‘Mona Lisas’

The young Raphael was so fascinated by Leonardo's composition that he created a series of Florentine portraits, several of which display a striking resemblance to the Mona Lisa. But they don’t seem to have the drama of Da Vinci's masterpiece.

(39) Leonardo: Last Supper, da Vinci’s greatest artistic effort – whole world of meaning – aimed at expressing the crucial symbol of man’s mistake; he worked so long on this.

Experimental fresco with oil and tempura on plaster. 28’ x 14’5”

Dissussion: Do you remember the location? Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan, Italy

what story is being told?

discuss the orderly composition;

which apostle will betray him – how is he portrayed here;

Who is Peter in relation to Catholic church?

What are some depictions of symbolism?

Most psychologically powerful moment in story of the supper – Jesus announced that one apostle will betray him. Judas – left of Jesus with John and Peter, face lost in shadow, leaning away, clutching money bag.

[from text] orderly composition; largest window behind Jesus (emphasis); curved pediment arching above head ( forms a halo); He is perfectly centered – perspective lines converge –behind his head, leading viewers eyes to Him.

Florentine heritage of harmony as expressed in numbers:

12 apostles in four groups of three on either side of lonely central figure;

four wall hangings on each side and three windows – alluding to the four gospels and the Trinity.

Twelve also refers to the passage of time—the hours of the day and months of the year—in which human salvation is to be sought.

Jesus’ arms extended diagonally – equilateral triangle in the center.

Action building from the wings leading to central calm of Jesus.

Defiant Judas is isolated as the only one who really knows – drawing back, face in deep shadow, hand clutching the moneybag. “Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table” (Luke 22:21).

Technique: Usual fresco technique of rapid painting on wet plaster not good – he experimented by mixing oil pigments with tempera in order to lengthen the painting time, get deeper colors, and work in more shadow effects. Unfortunately, the paint soon began to flake off the damp wall.

Over the years – it has been so often restored and repainted that only a shadow of its original splendor remains. . . . the intensity of the facial expressions can only be recaptured through the few preparatory drawings that have survived.

(41) Leonardo: Studies for Last Supper

why does he place Judas with Peter and John (Vasari’s story, p. 23 – difficulty of painting emotions on faces. Leonardo said the most difficult thing to paint was “the intention of Man’s soul.”)?

(43) Full wall view: Last Supper (before restoration)

(45) Jacopo Bassano: Last Supper (1542) Oil on canvas; Galleria Borghese, Rome

Jacopo Bassano's Last Supper is one of the masterpieces of 16th-century Italian painting – not part of this Renaissance period; I am just giving you another example of one of the many Last Supper paintings which Leonardo’s picture inspired. Instead of the elegant grouping of figures in Leonardo's painting, this dramatic scene features barefoot fishermen at the crucial moment when Christ asks who will betray him, and the light passing through a glass of wine stains the clean tablecloth red.

(Restoration) Recent restoration has only now revealed the extraordinary original colors, which had been heavily painted over in the 19th century, when the emerald green and iridescent pinks and oranges were not in fashion.

Which figure do you think is Judas? (I don’t know, but have a good opinion.)

(46) Reinvention of Rome: Sixtus IV Appoints Platina Head of the Vatican Library. Fresco by Forli: 1480-81. 13’1” x 10’4” – Vatican, Rome.

MID 15TH CENTURY: Pope Nicholas V – close ties to Florentine humanists, especially Leon Battista Alberti, who made survey of classical architecture. Alberti became chief consultant – Nicholas V began to rebuild Rome’s ancient churches and made plans to remake the Vatican as a new sacred city.

He also began to assemble a massive classical library and paid humanist scholars to translate ancient Greek texts into Latin and Italian.

· This Vatican library became a chief preoccupation of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84).

· Library became a true “Vatican” or “public” library with rules for usage, a permanent location, and effective administration. By 1508 the Vatican Library was said to be the “image” of Plato’s Academy. Athens had been reborn in Rome. Platina’s appointment as its head celebrated in fresco for the library painted by Melozzo da Forlì.

(8, 267) Pope Julius II (1503-1513) was gathering about him the foremost living artists in all fields.

By this time Rome was well on its way to becoming the undisputed artistic and intellectual capital of the Western world.

· Julius II and artists together continued the transformation of the Eternal City from its medieval past into the brilliant Rome of today.

· The flight of the Medici from Florence in 1494 had signaled a general exodus of artists.

· Many went to the ducal courts of Italy, but Rome provided an irresistible attraction.

Pope Leo X (1513-1521) – also huge supporter of the arts. Other princes of Europe had difficulty in keeping their best musicians, because the Pope’s love of the tonal art was so well known.

· Leoardo, Michelangel, and Pope Leo were from Florence; thus a smooth transition from Florence to Rome.

· Such projects as building the world’s largest church, painting of the Sistine ceiling and the Vatican Palace murals – found only in Rome.

· Also, the cardinals resided in Rome – they maintained palaces that rivaled the papal court.

· Many of the ancient monuments were still standing – archeological digs produced even more ancient treasures to stimulate the sculptors such as Michelangelo.

(47) Raphael (intro): Julius II (Raffaello Santi of Ubino – 1483-1520)

Oil on wood. 43” x 31.8” (?) –

Self-portrait: (ca. 1506 – 23 years old) oil on panel 18.7” x 13”

(1483-1520) – came to Rome, not yet 25 but renown as painter; studied painting under father and another painter.

Portrait of Pope Julius II. This is a painting of Pope Julius II, who was a popular subject for Raphael and his students.

· The presentation of the subject was unusual for its time. Previous Papal portraits showed them frontally, or kneeling in profile.

· It was also "exceptional" at this period to show the sitter so evidently in a particular mood - here lost in thought.[4]

· The intimacy of this image was unprecedented in Papal portraiture, but became the model, "what became virtually a formula", followed by most future painters

· The Oxford Dictionary of Art (2004) indicates that the painting "established a type for papal portraits that endured for about two centuries."[5]

(48) Pope Julius II

(click) Pope Julius, led an army to attack one of the Duchies in his campaign to drive France out of Italy. The French and Italian defenders of this besieged fortress looked down from their battlements in and saw a vision out of a nightmare. A white-haired fury was riding up and down the attacking army, barking orders, abusing slackers, praising where praise was due, filling his army with heart and rage. Pope Julius II led from the front. His headquarters was so close to the walls of the fortress that a cannon shot killed two staff in his kitchen. This just made him angrier. The defenders ended up putting their last efforts into trying to kill the Pope as he egged on his men. When they offered to surrender, he quibbled over the clause that he should spare their lives.

(click) Julius II was born Giuliano della Rovere was born in 1443. There was amazement when he was elected Pope 60 years later, in 1503. The cardinal was a known troublemaker, "notoriously difficult by nature and formidable with everyone", in an age when no one expected Popes to be exactly holier than thou. In those times, the Papacy was a landowner, a political state, a diplomatic office - too important to be left to the clergy.

He was a man dedicated to the Church. It was just that he believed in the Church militant rather than pious. He had less faith in the power of prayer than in power, pure and simple. Michelangelo once asked him if, in the bronze statue he commissioned the Florentine sculptor to make of him in Bologna, Julius would like to be shown with a book in his left hand, to signify scholarship. "Why a book?" he replied. "Show me with a sword."

Here's the paradox. The brutal, intemperate Pope Julius II, who despised the idea of being portrayed with a book in his hand, was one of the most brilliant art patrons of the Renaissance, a man who had the intelligence to give Michelangelo his freedom - despite their quarrels - and who began the transformation of Rome from a medieval settlement dwarfed by ancient ruins to the glorious city of the baroque.

Michelangelo created a colossal bronze statue, three times life size, and it was placed in the city of Bologna.

Julius started with the aim of winning back the Papal states, northeastern and central Italian territories to which the papacy claimed title. But he soon became more ambitious and saw himself - as a Venetian ambassador reported in 1510 - as "lord and master of the world's game". He was one of the princes whose self-delusion and folly destroyed Italy, according to a 16^th century Italian historian. The period we call the High Renaissance - the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael - was a tragic age to live through. And Julius was one of its terrors.

(click) To the Bolognese, he just seemed a bully. In 1506 the new Pope Julius seized Bologna, which he claimed was a papal property, from its oppressive, gangsterish ruling family. Although by any logical criteria this was a liberation, it was resented, and as soon as they got an opportunity, in 1511, the Bolognese rose up and drove out the Church's garrison. This is when we get a glimpse of what ordinary Italians thought of Julius. They dragged down a colossal bronze statue of the Pope, hauled it around the plaza, shouted abuse at it, mocked and scorned it. The people were weary of the horrors and destruction of war.

This was the only one of Michelangelo's works to be destroyed by popular violence.

(click) Julius was violent in personal life, close up, as well as on the battlefield. It is only when you start to see exactly how fearsome he was on the battlefield, or when he sacrificed thousands of lives against the French at the Battle of Ravenna, that you realize exactly how much courage it took for Michelangelo to stand up to the Pope: they had a stormy relationship – as you will see a bit later.

(click) Which is why Raphael's portrait of Julius II is such a shock.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/apr/30/artsfeatures article by Jonathan Jones for The Guardian:

(49) Another looke at Raphael’s Julius II

(click) At first it seems a painting of a sublimely tranquil, compassionate old man, his beard as white as the frilly crisp skirt that falls like water over his knees.

(click) Dwarfed by the golden acorns symbolising the Della Rovere family and the huge jewelled rings he wears, Julius II is a man broken by the sorrows of the world.

(click) His face is so full of grief, so distracted in sadness (he looks down into his own melancholy), that he might be a Mary with an invisible Christ in her lap.

(click) His plump, ringed hands and the papal dress are feminising. It is a portrait of weakness rather than strength, of suffering: the Pope as martyr.

(click) To us, this Pope appears a decent, holy man: He is a Pope!

(click) But to viewers, just after his death when it first appeared in the a church in Rome, it was a painting of stunning, risky realism.

(click) The Pope's beard is the clue. He grew it in 1511-12 as a public act of lamentation after the rising against him in Bologna.

So the beard is not simply pious: it mourns the loss of a subject state, which he had seized through war.

That is why he is sad; he is not mourning our sins but his military losses.

(click) In fact, Raphael has caught something about him that also struck Guicciardini.

An historian suggests that whenever he was defeated and humiliated Julius seemed to show his best qualities. This painting captures Julius in defeat; and in his defeat he finds nobility.

(click) The art of the Renaissance would look very different if Michelangelo's colossus of Julius had survived. . . and if Michelangelo's awesome original design for the tomb of Julius II had been completed. (We studied that in the sculpture presentation)

Julius would - literally - be an even more looming figure than he is.

It would be harder for history to do its often-times work of forgetting; for us to see Raphael's painting as one of a holy old man instead of a half-mad militarist.

(50) Raphael: Leo X with two Cardinals Oil on wood – (1518) 31.8” x 43”

In contrast to other works depicting graceful Madonnas and figures from classical antiquity, this portrait by Raphael shows the subjects with realism rather than idealism. The Pope is depicted with puffy eyes, ample features and apparent near-sightedness. The uneasy tone reflects a period of unrest and turmoil for the papacy; Martin Luther had challenged papal authority, listing among other grievances, Leo X's method of selling indulgences to fund work on St Peter's.

The ball on top of the Pope's chair evokes the symbolic abacus balls of the Medici Family.

Leo X had put It so happens that it was Raphael in charge of the large building enterprise after Bramante had died in 1514, and thus Raphael had also become an architect, designing churches, villas and palaces and studying the ruins of ancient Rome.

*** Unlike his great rival Michelangelo, though, Raphael got on well with people and could keep a busy workshop going. Thanks to his sociable qualities the scholars and dignitaries of the papal court made him their companion. There was even talk of Raphael being made a cardinal; but he died on his thirty-seventh birthday, having crammed into his brief life an astonishing diversity of artistic achievements.

(51) A list of works by Raphael

Hard to belief that he died when only thirty-seven, and to realize he was an architect in addition to doing all of these paintings !!!

(52) Raphael: Madonna of the Meadows

Famous for paintings of Madonna and Child. [fig. 13.24]

How is Raphael’s style here different from da Vinci’s style In the Madonna of the Rocks? this composition is simpler, less contrast between light and dark, children’s expression are more playful.

Raphael’s Madonna is pale, sweet, serious; maternal and meditative –

thinking ahead to Jesus’s passion, prefigured by the cross offered by infant St. John – who has camel-hair garment that he would wear as an adult.

In most early Renaissance depictions, Madonna is elevated on a throne;

Raphael’s Madonna has descended to our earthly level, even sitting upon the ground – “Madonna of Humility.” Differences between sacred and secular are minimized – e.g. thin halos.

(53) Raphael –Sistine Madonna & Tempi Madonna (right) oil on wood, 20” x 30” - 1508

(left) Sistine Madonna – very famous painting . . . The canvas with the Virgin, Child and Saints Sixtus and Barbara. Oil on canvas c. 1512-14 265cm x 196 cm

· almost everyone is familiar with the putti (nude boys with wings) leaning on the balustrade.

All who have written about this picture have acknowledged the strange and baffling expressions worn by Mary and the child Jesus, although attempts to decipher their meaning have frequently been evasive - . . . Schopenhauer spoke of the "terror-stricken" face of the boy Jesus; for the dramatist Hebbel, "The child is wild, teeth clenched, eyes blazing..."

Def: putti: Putti are those plump little naked boys with wings that one often sees in Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque and Rococo art. Typically, a putto (the singular form) depicts an angel or cherub in a religious scene, but he may also come in the form of Cupid.

(56) Raphael’s – What is the name of this fresco?

School of Athens, fresco 27’ x 19’ –

Where is it located? Why is that sicnificant? Vatican Palace room where papal documents were signed. Commissioned by Julius II – 1508. Represents quest for classical learning and for the Truth.

Why is Plato pointing up, while Aristotle is pointing down? (emphasis on other world of True Forms/ emphasis on material Reality)

In the spacious hall (which recalls the Roman poet Lucretius’s remark on “temples raised by philosophy,” the various schools of thought argue or ponder the ideas put forth by the two central figures.

One philosophical circle was intent on reconciling the views of Plato and Aristotle.

Raphael and his friends held that any point in Plato could be equated with and translated into a proposition of Aristotle and vice versa. Plato wrote in poetic images, while Aristotle used the language of rational analysis.

On Plato’s side a niche has a statue of Apollo, patron of poetry. On Aristotle’s side is one of Athena, goddess of reason. This division of the central figures balances the picture, with the metaphysical philosophers and thinkers ranked on Plato’s side and the physical scientists pursuing their researches on Aristotle’s. . . . groups representing separate schools of thought within these two major divisions.

Figure of Plato is thought to be an idealized portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. His architect friend Bramante is Archimedes demonstrating on his slate a geometrical proposition. . . .

Posterity is fortunate to have this summation of Renaissance humanism as seen through the eye of such a profound artist as was Raphael.

(57) Two Giants of Philosophy – details of Plato and Aristotle (School of Athens)

Plato (with facial features of Leonardo da Vinci) and Aristotle, the two fountainheads of Western European philosophy.

It is often stated that all philosophy ponderings and writings in the Western World since the time of Greek antiquity are mere footnotes to Plato and Aristotle.

(61) Plato’s side – individuals pointed out

(62) Diogenes of Cynicism in School of Athens

(63) Individuals on Aristotle’s side pointed out

(64) Detail of Raphael in School of Athens

(65) School of Athens picture repeated

How does Raphael weave all of the five currents of Renaissance Humanism into School of Athens?

· Classical humanism – architecture, statues, dress, title-subject

· Platonic humanism –

· Aristotelian humanism

· Naturalism humanism

· Individualism humanism

(66) Michelangelo, the divine - intro

Vasari, his biographer, wrote: “The man who bears the palm of all the ages, transcending and eclipsing all the rest, is the divine M. Buanarroti, who is supreme not in one art only but in all three at once.”

History has since had no reason to reverse this judgment. [8,273]

(67) Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV – 1475-81

(68) Aerial view – Sistine Chapel (click) another view within St. Peter’s complex

What significant events happen in the Sistine Chapel?

One of the most significant functions of the Sistine Chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. The 1492 papal conclave was the first to use the Sistine Chapel for this purpose. (500 years of tradition)

The Sistine Chapel is a high rectangular brick building, its exterior unadorned by architectural or decorative details, as common in many Medieval and Renaissance churches in Italy. It has no exterior facade or exterior processional doorways as the ingress has always been from internal rooms within the Papal Palace.

The Sistine Chapel is about (c. 131’ x 46’)

(71) Sistine Chapel as Pope Julius II inherited it i.e., without a decorated ceiling but with side walls frescoed by leading painters of the fifteenth century including Botticelli.

The vault is of quite a complex nature and it is unlikely that it was originally intended to have such complex decoration. Originally, the ceiling painted blue and dotted with gold stars.

When Michelangelo fled Rome for Florence after a flunky turned him away from the Pope's door, the Pope sent messages to the Florentine government "full of threats" if he didn't come back; eventually Florence had to send him to Rome because the alternative was a war with the Pope.

Julius commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo reluctantly signed the contract to paint the ceiling (he added ‘sculptor’ next to his name). Julius’ impatience for Michelangelo to finish the painting drove the artist to distraction.

Michelangelo's memories of his difficult relationship with Julius, as related to his biographer, can seem a little paranoid. One day, he told Condivi, the Pope asked when he would finish. "When I'm able to," he said. The Pope's reply was terrifying: "You want me to have you thrown off that scaffolding, do you?"

He said more than once that he thought Julius was going to kill him. When you see Julius as the rampaging warlord he was, this doesn't seem so unlikely.

Michelangelo finished quickly. Indeed, he told Condivi he had rushed some things in his fear of the Pope. Another time the Pope beat Michelangelo with his staff. But the artist still asserted himself, still insisted on his vision. When Julius urged him to put gold on the Sistine paintings he said this would be inappropriate because in biblical times people were poor.

(72) Sistine Chapel – interior view

The ceiling rises to 20 metres (c. 66’) above the main floor of the chapel.

Over 5,800 square feet of painting on the ceiling. Over 300 figures.

· The iconography is a fusion of traditional Hebrew-Christian theology and Neoplatonic philosophy.

· Space is divided into geometric forms – triangle, circle, and square – eternal forms in Plato’s philosophy representing the true nature of the universe.

· A three-way division of zones, the lowest being eight concave triangular spaces above the windows and four corner spaces.

· Intermediate zone includes all the sourrounding space except that given to the nine center panels – the third zone.

The weight of expression, story content, and philosophical meaning are carried entirely by Michelangelo’s placement and treatment of the more than three hundred human figures in a seemingly infinite variety of postures.

(73) Sistine Chapel ceiling closeup: Three zones

Three zones – three Platonic states; world of matter, world of becoming; and world of being.

. . . the lowest being eight concave triangular spaces above the windows and four corner spaces.

Intermediate zone includes all the sourrounding space except that given to the nine center panels– the third zone.

· Plato had triple divisions in much of his thought: e.g., in his Republic there were three classes: workers, free citizens, and philosophers – each symbolized by metals brass, silver, and gold.

· Learning had three stages—ignorance, opinion, and knowledge.

· The human soul had three faculties—appetitive, emotional, and rational—only the rational or intellective part could aspire to immortality.

(74) Sistine Chapel ceiling – another closeup view of 3 zones

(75) Sistine Chapel – zone 1 diagram – lunettes & spandrels - On lower level of ceiling, were unenlightened men and women imprisoned by their physical appetites and unaware of the divine word.

(76) Lunette closeup

(77) Spandrel closeup

(78) Zone 2 diagram: In middle zone—inspired Old Testament prophets and pagan sibyls who through their writings and prophecies impart knowledge of the divine will and act as intermediaries between humanity and God. There are seven Hebrew prophets alternating with five pagan sibyls

(79) Sistine Chapel – zone 2 Prophet Isaiah; ignudi

· Above each of the prophets and sibyls and framing the central panels are ignudi (nude youths).

· In the Christian tradition, these figures would have been represented as angels.

· In the Platonic theory, however, they personify the rational faculties of the sibyls and prophets by means of which they contemplate divine truth and by which they are able to bridge the gap between the physical and spiritual, or earthly and heavenly, regions.

· Thus, all the prophets and sibyls have a single figure below to denote the body, a pair of nudes behind them to signify the will, and a heroic ignudo to personify the immortal soul.

· These figures also serve to soften the contours of the architectural design.

(80) Sibyl of Delphi – zone 2 detail -In Greek tradition and in Plato, she was the priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

(81) Zone 3 diagram: The center panels tell the story of men and women in their direct relationship to God. There are nine scenes of creation and man’s relationship with God, from Bible book of Genesis

(82) Sistine Chapel ceiling: first four center panels

Center panels: Instead of starting at the beginning of creation and proceeding chronologically as in Genesis, Michelangelo presents the story in reverse order, or as the Platonic ascent of humanity from its lowest estate back to its divine origin.

· In this return to God, the soul in its bodily prison gradually becomes aware of God and moves from finiteness to infinity, from material bondage to spiritual freedom.

· Immortality in this sense, is not the reward for a passive and pious existence but the result of a tremendous effort of the soul struggling out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of truth.

· First is the Drunkenness of Noah – showing a mortal man in his most abysmal condition, the victim of bodily appetites. . . . His sons in their physical prime do not seem to be discovering their father’s nakedness, as related in the Bible, but the tragic fate of all mortals, who must work, grow old, and die. . . .

· Next panel represents the Deluge, shows the plight of men and women when beset by the elemental forces of nature beyond their control.

· Third, Noah’s Sacrice, human dependence on God is implied for the first time.

· Fourth, the Fall and Expulsion from Paradise follows. (8, 276/7)

(83) Sistine Chapel ceiling – next four center panels

The last five panels are concerned with various aspects of God’s divine nature.

· In the Creation of Eve, He appears as a benign paternal figure;

· in the Creation of Adam, God is seen in the skies, with his mantle surrounding him like a cloud, as he moves toward the earth and the inert body of Adam. . . . creative force likened to the divine fire that flashes like lightning from the cloud to the earth. Adam’s body is one with the rock on which he lies . . . Adam is awakening to life reluctantly rather than eagerly. With his other arm, God embraces Eve, who exists at this moment as an idea in the mind of God. . . . God’s fingers point to the coming Christ Child, while behind him are the heads of unborn future generations of human beings.

· After the Gathering of the Waters,

· comes the Creation of the Sun and Moon – Here the figure of God becomes a personification of the creative principle,

(88) Closeup: Creation of the Sun and Moon

(84) Sistine Chapel ceiling – ninth panel

while in God Dividing the Light from Darkness the climax and the realm of pure being are attained. Here is clarity from chaos, order from the void, existence from nothingness.

· Light here is the symbol for enlightenment and the knowledge that gives freedom from the darkness of ignorance and bondage.

· Only through the light of wisdom can an individual attain the highest human and divine status. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” say the scriptures (John 8:32);

· “Know thyself,” the Delphic oracle told Socrates.

· God has progressed from the paternal human figure in the Creation of Eve to a swirling abstraction in the realm of pure being. . . . In the words of Pico della Mirandola, the human being “withdraws into the center of his own oneness, his spirit made one with God.”

(85) detail: Fall and Expulsion from Paradise (male models used for females)

(89) Restoration (?) Sistine Chapel Ceiling . . What are pros and cons: Restoration of paintings

(90) Michelangelo -The Last Judgment – [fig 13.29] commissioned for altar wall of Sistine Chapel.

· M’s late work leaves ideals of High Renaissance behind. (1534-1541)

· Tenseness of its mood and distortion of human anatomy, twisted and grotesque; no illusion of realistic depth intended-- reflects the Mannerist style.

· We will be discussing the Mannerism style: it is the next section of your textbook.

· Lacks the optimism and sense of beauty.

· But this style is appropriate to the subject – dead dragged from graves and pulled upward to be judged by Jesus. Grimness in whole painting.

(91) The Last Judgment – full wall view

(92) The Last Judgment – full view (better picture)

The first impression we have when faced with the Last Judgment is that of a truly universal event, at the centre of which stands the powerful figure of Christ. His raised right hand compels the figures on the lefthand side, who are trying to ascend, to be plunged down towards Charon and Minos, the Judge of the Underworld; while his left hand is drawing up the chosen people on his right in an irresistible current of strength.

Together with the planets and the sun, the saints surround the Judge, confined into vast spacial orbits around Him. For this work Michelangelo did not choose one set point from which it should be viewed. The proportions of the figures and the size of the groups are determined, as in the Middle Ages, by their single absolute importance and not by their relative significance. For this reason, each figure preserves its own individuality and both the single figures arid the groups need their own background.

The figures who, in the depths of the scene, are rising from their graves could well be part of the prophet Ezechiel's vision. Naked skeletons are covered with new flesh, men dead for immemorable lengths of time help each other to rise from the earth. For the representation of the place of eternal damnation, Michelangelo was clearly inspired by the lines of the Divine Comedy:

Charon the demon, with eyes of glowing coal/Beckoning them, collects them all,/Smites with his oar whoever lingers.

At bottom a Charon (ferryman of dead) guides boat across River Styx, driving damned into perpetual torment.

(93) The Last Judgment – center details

Mary cringes at the vision. At his feet, St. Bartholomew (martyred, skinned alive) holds skin in hand

The artist's self-portrait appears twice in the Last Judgment: in the flayed skin which Saint Bartholomew is carrying in his left-hand, and in a figure in the lower left hand corner (not sure where from pictures I have).

(94) The Last Judgment – details – Minos and other

Minos, the Judge of the Underworld. According to Vasari, the artist gave Minos the semblance of the Pope's Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, who had often complained to the Pope about the nudity of the painted figures.

Biagio stated publicly "that it was a most dishonest act in such a respectable place to have painted so many naked figures immodestly revealing their shameful parts, that it was not a work for a papal chapel but for a bathhouse or house of ill-fame."

Michelangelo took his revenge on Biagio by adding his portrait to the damned; in the guise of Minos, he looks on impassive and depraved, "with a huge serpent coiled around his legs, in the midst of a crowd of devils".

(95) End slide – review of artists covered in presentation

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