Michelangelo The Last Judgement
The Last Judgment
Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists of all time. He excelled in architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, and engineering. He was a true Renaissance man who lived a long emotional life. In painting "The Last Judgment," Michelangelo was able to incorporate all that he had learned about the human body. He was able to show the way the body moved, as well as its displays of unrestrained passion, overwhelming grief, or endless torment. This is what makes "The Last Judgment" such a unique and exceptional work of art.
The Last Judgment is a canonical fresco by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo executed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, Rome, Italy. It is forty-eight feet by forty-four …show more content…
The emotion coming from the figure of Christ is so powerful that it almost seems like the figure of his mother, Mary, next to him is cower in fear of the whole scene. To the right you see the Archangel Michel reading form the book of souls assisting in the judgment process. Seen all over is figures of the saved rejoicing but you can also see the damned suffering or fearful of their fate like the figure below Christ on the right covering one eye terrified of his terrible …show more content…
The inclusion of Greek and Roman mythology is the biggest hint to this. Christ in the center surrounded by light shown as beardless and very muscular this is not just an expression of humanism but can be compared to the Greek god Apollo who was the god of the sun. What could be viewed as the reason for this is that Pope Clement VII studied Heliocentric Cosmology by Copernicus. This work stated that the sun was the center of the universe, so by placing Christ in the center of the fresco and mimicking the features of Apollo, Michelangelo places Jesus at the center of our spiritual universe. The boatman Charon from Greek and Roman mythology is also featured in this work at the bottom ferrying the damned souls to hell. Also, Minos from Greek mythology who was son of Zeus and Europa and king of Crete became one of the three judges of the underworld. Minos is seen in the bottom left corner of the work with a serpent coiled around him and this would determine which circle of hell the damned souls would be sent. It is also said that a Cardinal had judged Michelangelo’s work so as a sort of revenge he painted the portrait of the Cardinal as Minos. This could have been his way of poetically stating that only God and Christ can judge this world and if
Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists of all time. He excelled in architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, and engineering. He was a true Renaissance man who lived a long emotional life. In painting "The Last Judgment," Michelangelo was able to incorporate all that he had learned about the human body. He was able to show the way the body moved, as well as its displays of unrestrained passion, overwhelming grief, or endless torment. This is what makes "The Last Judgment" such a unique and exceptional work of art.
The Last Judgment is a canonical fresco by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo executed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, Rome, Italy. It is forty-eight feet by forty-four …show more content…
The emotion coming from the figure of Christ is so powerful that it almost seems like the figure of his mother, Mary, next to him is cower in fear of the whole scene. To the right you see the Archangel Michel reading form the book of souls assisting in the judgment process. Seen all over is figures of the saved rejoicing but you can also see the damned suffering or fearful of their fate like the figure below Christ on the right covering one eye terrified of his terrible …show more content…
The inclusion of Greek and Roman mythology is the biggest hint to this. Christ in the center surrounded by light shown as beardless and very muscular this is not just an expression of humanism but can be compared to the Greek god Apollo who was the god of the sun. What could be viewed as the reason for this is that Pope Clement VII studied Heliocentric Cosmology by Copernicus. This work stated that the sun was the center of the universe, so by placing Christ in the center of the fresco and mimicking the features of Apollo, Michelangelo places Jesus at the center of our spiritual universe. The boatman Charon from Greek and Roman mythology is also featured in this work at the bottom ferrying the damned souls to hell. Also, Minos from Greek mythology who was son of Zeus and Europa and king of Crete became one of the three judges of the underworld. Minos is seen in the bottom left corner of the work with a serpent coiled around him and this would determine which circle of hell the damned souls would be sent. It is also said that a Cardinal had judged Michelangelo’s work so as a sort of revenge he painted the portrait of the Cardinal as Minos. This could have been his way of poetically stating that only God and Christ can judge this world and if