Insight Into Michelangelo"s Sistine Chapel Fresco

The more I read about Michelangelo and the way that he was able to use his genius to overcome the corrupt influence of his benefactor Pope Julius II in the fresco painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the more humble I become to think that God would produce such a commmanding performance from a lowly human being.

To understand this genius, let us start from the beginnning. Michelangelo Bounarroti was born in the village of Caprese, Italy on March 6, 1475. Early in his life he had the God given gift to see the image in a block of marble and could hardly wait to chip at the marbel to let the figure out.  His least favorite art form was painting and thus he resisted the Pope's pressure to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Pope used his corrupt power to coerce Michelangelo into assuming the lengthy project. The project took four years which he begrudgingly felt took time away from his first love that of sculpting.

From the beginning there was friction between the two pricnciple charqcters of the project as the pope wanted the chapel ceiling to depict the life of Jesus. However, to spite the Pope and his corrupt power, Michelangelo used his genius to subtly tell aniother story. He accomplished this by painting nine scenes of the Old Testament and none of the New Testament.

His first step was to change the plan that the Pope had directed him to make in that the entrance that the Pope used to enter the Sistine Chapel was to have a protrat of Jesus over the entrance. Michelangelo, instead, painted a portrait of the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah, over the Pope's entrance. He, however, appeased the Pope's large ego by painting the face of the Pope on the figure of Zechariah. But, Michelangelo had the last word as he painted two cheribum behind the Zechariah-Pope figure with one of the small hands in shadow showing a fist with a thumb between the fingers which woud be equivalent to giving one the finger in today's world.

The central and most powerful scene of the Chapel is God's creation of Adam. To understand this scene, you must again take into consideration the genius of Michelangelo and also that he had had exposure to studying the anatomy of humans. Thus, as you look at the figure of God in this central portrait you will see Him extending his finger to Adam. But, you must consider the background in which God is portrayed. This background includes several etheral figures in a "shell" looking like a cape and a hanging cloth. Michelangelo is telling us that this image protrays the right hemisphere of the human brain with the cerebellum, cerebrum and brain stem. He is visually echoing the ancient Jewish prayer proclaiming that God created Adam with the right side of the divine brain.

In total, there are 300 figures in the fresco depicting nine episodes from the Book of Genesis developed in three groups- the creation of the earth, the creation of mankind, and man's fall from God's Grace. Supporting the ceiling there are twelve figures who prophesized the coming of Jesus. In addtion around the windows are depicted the ancestors of Jesus.

When you visit the Sistine Chapel, look for some of these little known details that the genius in Michelangelo is telling us and how this cannny artist wanted to ensure that his message would be rediscovered and believed.

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Why do we use this expression? Why do say a person who questions every statement in a discussion is playing the "devil's advocate"? When a name is proposed for canonization in the Roman Catholic Church, two advocates are appointed. One of these is called God's advocate and says all he can in favor of the proposal. The other is the Devil's advocate who says all that he can aganist the proposal.