Italian and Northern Renaissance Blog Assignment by Jasper Carpenter.

Italian and Northern Renaissance Blog Assignment
by Jasper Carpenter.

The Sistine Chapel forms part of the Vatican in Italy and was named after Pope Sixtus IV. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is particularly famous for the incredible paintings by Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarotti Simoni, known simply by the mononym Michelangelo. He was born in Caprese, a village in the Republic of Florence on March 6, 1475, and became a painter, sculptor, poet and architect during his lifetime. The paintings - also known as frescoes - on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are some of his best-known works, composed of nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, including one called The Creation of Adam (Creazione di Adamo). Frescoes are a particular artistic technique used in mural paintings that are executed wet lime plaster. Water is combined with dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, eventually becoming part of the wall as it dries. According to the Sistine Chapel's website, the ceiling is 40 meters long and 13 meters wide (131.23 feet long by 42.651 feet wide). The work was painstaking and required a skilled understanding of how to apply the proper type of perspective to the paintings. It is now believed that he was not lying on his back to paint but rather he used specially designed scaffolding. The project took him an impressive four years to complete. The Creation of Adam fresco took him sixteen days, which I don't think seems like much time at all. I am struck by the sheer scale and detail of the paintings, and the position of them on the chapel ceiling is very impressive. It's no wonder that the chapel receives around 5 million visitors each year. I don't think that I would want to have a copy of the frescoes on my wall because of all the nudity, but I would definitely like to go and see it in person someday. The paintings create an insight into the Book of Genesis, showing the connection between God and mankind, and how we are created in God's image. God reaching out to touch Adam is very poignant, I feel, as it shows He is not a remote God; but a living, feeling one who wants us to know His presence and that He is reachable and touchable. The colors and textures in the frescoes are breathtaking. They are so vivid and have a real depth to them that make them appear more real rather than flat. The way that they spill out over the lines makes them part of the space instead of confined to their section or square. I think it's fascinating. These paintings are a good example of Humanism in art during the Renaissance period. Michelangelo's accomplishments are emphasized through his use of color, realism and perspective.