CHAPEL OF SYKSTINS
Stairs lead from here to the Sistine Chapel, great, barn structure erected for Pope Sixtus IV c 1481 r "serving as the official private chapel of the Pope, which also hosts a conclave of cardinals to elect a new pope. The paintings on both side walls were created along with the chapel and depict scenes from the life of Moses and Christ, brush (among others) Perugino (Handing over the keys), Botticellego (Healing the leper) i Ghirlandaio (The calling of the apostles, Resurrection). In any other church, it would be a real attraction, but here everyone comes to see the series of frescoes The Creation of the World painted on the ceiling by the apprentice Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo. It is perhaps the most famous work of art in the world, made almost entirely by hand (although this has recently been questioned) under the influence of the unusual, four years of creative inspiration. There are scenes from the Old Testament, from the Drunkenness of Noah on the east side to the Creation of light over the altar wall, with figures from Christian and pagan theology on the sides. Michelangelo did not want to accept this assignment at all, because he considered himself a sculptor rather than a painter and preferred to take care of the tomb of Julius II (now in San Piętro in Vincoli) than painting the vault, which he treated as a job. Julius, however, decided otherwise: he wanted twelve apostles in the vault and hired a Bramante, to build the necessary scaffolding. Michelangelo, however, was gifted with a difficult one, solitary character. Before he started working, found the Bramante scaffolding impractical, he dismissed all helpers and rejected Julius' plan in favor of his own. However, he found his on his own: There were countless stories about the artist's disputes with the Pope. While painting the key fragments, Michelangelo locked the door, despite Julius' protests, who wanted to check, how the work is progressing. There is also an anecdote, that during the dispute at the top of the scaffold, the Pope in a ferociously hit the artist.
Julius II died a few years after completing the chapel, but the fame of the work he commissioned had spread widely by that time. The frescoes are undoubtedly impressive, especially after recent maintenance (funded by a Japanese electronics company too 3 millions of dollars in exchange for exclusive antenna rights), during which the dirt and soot from candles accumulated over the centuries were removed, revealing a much brighter and more colorful picture, than anyone imagined. The restorers were also able to trace the sequence in which individual fragments of the paintings were made. Because the frescoes are made on fresh lime mortar, each morning a new layer was put on, after which the painter had about eight hours, until the mortar is dry. From the comparison of the different layers it was concluded, that it took only four days for the artist to perform the figure of Adam in the key scene of the Creation of Adam, and for painting God on the same fresco - three.
Currently, the fresco of the Last Judgment on the western wall of the chapel is preserved, created by Michelangelo more than twenty years later. Interesting, what colors will emerge from under the current gray tones. Michelangelo was also reluctant to take up this job, because the family of Pope Julius II threatened to sue him, if he had not completed the tomb. Pope Paul III, however, wanted to continue the decoration of the chapel. The fresco took the artist another five years of solitary work, but he is perhaps the most inspired, a dynamic and coherent painting of such a scale in the world. Michelangelo's technical virtuosity gives way to pure spontaneity in creating, and the human body was perfectly captured in unusual poses: even the figures of the damned, do the ancient prophets seem to be a symphony in honor of the human body.
Nothing unusual, that the fresco offended some and even before it was finished, Rome was divided into two camps: colleges and critics . The difference of opinion was mainly about issues, whether nudity can be depicted in the pope's private chapel. However, Michelangelo's reaction was unequivocal: he mocked one of his staunchest critics, showing him in the lower right corner of the painting with donkey ears and in the embrace of a serpent. Pious Successor of Paul III, Pius IV, had serious reservations about the content of the composition and wanted to remove it, but a disciple of Michelangelo, Daniele de Volterra, carefully - and selectively - he covered the naked bodies too ostentatiously, earning himself the nickname of "pantallonia". A decision has not yet been made, whether the figures will be exposed again during the restoration work.