It happened on November 500st more than XNUMX years ago. For the first time the human gaze was able to admire the work of Michelangelo. Those frescoes on the vault of the Sistine Chapel that still today make visitors linger with their noses up. So precious that they cannot be photographed. In an effort to preserve that masterpiece inaugurated on November 1, 1512. A quick glance is not enough. There are many details to get lost in. And then we stop for a while to capture in our memory one of the most important artistic products in history.
Birth of a masterpiece
The Sistine Chapel houses numerous works resulting from the hand and ingenuity of renowned artists. Not only Michelangelo but also Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli. These are just some of the names of the most renowned authors. But when did all this arise? A step back in time is useful for contextualising. Commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere, the Sistine Chapel, which takes its name from the pope, was built at the end of the 400th century. Dedicated to the Assumption, it represents the place where the most important ceremonies took place, and still take place today. Among these, the conclave for the election of the new Pope.
A simple barrel vault characterizes the structure. On the walls, marked by the twenty openings, the frescoes by various artists who first contributed to the decoration. At first it seems there was a simple starry sky on the vault. Pier Matteo d'Amelia's work was preserved until Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to decorate the new vault. Theirs was a rather singular, at times stormy relationship. Responsible for the short temper of both.
Sistine Chapel: frescoes and strange subterfuges
Pope Julius II also called Michelangelo for the construction of his own burial. An imposing mausoleum, enriched by numerous statues, a real celebratory monument. A path during which the artist struggled a lot, coming to quarrel several times with the pontiff. As well as to reconcile on several occasions. Until Julius II, at the invitation of Donato Bramante, entrusted Buonarroti with the Sistine Chapel. What good advice, you might think. Yet behind the words of Bramante there is a very different intent.
In fact, it seems that the same has suggested to the Pope the name of Michelangelo for test it on wall paint. Technique in which he was probably not very practical. And at the same time depriving him of the commission of the monumental tomb that could never have found space in the new one factory of San Pietro. Works chaired by Bramante himself. Yet from here was born one of the best works of man. There is to be lost in lingering with the look in all those details. The frescoes completed in 1512 were those on the vault. Here Julius II directed Michelangelo to depict the apostles as well as stories full of suffering within geometric fields. However, it seems that the work was unable to take the right turn. Thus the Pope left a certain executive autonomy to the Master.
Organized the vault on the model of ancient Roman paintings, it is made up of schemes capable of creating a perspective illusion. Within the same there are narrative representations. This is how the ancestors of Christ, the Prophets and the Sibyls who foretold the Messiah. And again the nine episodes of Genesis divided into three groups. The origin of the Universe, of Man and of Evil. And the Judgement? This was next work at the time. The large fresco made between 1536 and 1541 in which 400 people revolve around Christ. Today, more than 500 years later, the decoration of the Sistine Chapel is a source of Italian pride. Tourists from all over the world staring upwards, stopping to overcrowd a room that suddenly appears small.
