Michelangelo

Relatively recently, I had to do a report on Michelangelo for my Church History class. So after a bit of studying, I found out a ton of awesome information about him that I never knew before. It's crazy how much about him we miss out on when we only think of him as a most-likely-non-Christian painter who did the Sistene Chapel ceiling. Even though it looks like a lot, it's well worth your time. Here are some of the awesome things I learned about him:

-He was a very talented poet, painter, sculptor, and architect as well as a painter.

-He left many of his works unfinished.

-When he was a painter’s apprentice, he forged one of his master’s paintings and sold it as a prank.

-Although he aspired to depict ideal beauty in his art, he cared very little about personal hygiene. He often wore his shoes for months at a time, so that when he finally took them off, skin would come too. He also slept very little and ate very little.

-Most of his work he never signed, except the pieta in St. Peter’s Basilica. The only reason he signed that was because he heard that another sculptor was getting the credit for it among the people.

-Marble for David statue was flawed- rejected by another sculptor.

Sistine Chapel:

-          He originally didn’t want to paint it

-          4 yrs to complete

-          Designed his own scaffolding

-          The pope wanted him to put gold on it after he was done because he said that “it will look poor” if he didn’t. But he didn’t want to rebuild the scaffolding, so he convinced the pope to keep it as it was by saying “those who are depicted there, they were poor too”.

Ceiling Design:

-          On the north and south walls, there were 2 murals painted by other artists. One was the life of Christ and the other was the life of Moses, representing the old and new testaments. Michelangelo integrated the ideas of both with his ceiling plans by having his be the story of genesis in view of the gospel.

-          He also integrated the 2 by painting the outer edges of the ceiling with the lineage of Christ and the prophets who foretold of His life.

-          On the four corners, He has scenes that depict redemptive sacrifice, faith, and salvation.

-          There are 9 panels on the ceiling and the themes are grouped in 3s. The first 3 by the altar are about creation, depicting God’s creative character and perfection. The middle 3 show how humans were made for a perfect relationship with God and how they broke that relationship. The last 3 depict the faithfulness, deliverance, and sin of Noah.

-          As a person walks towards the altar, they are walking from the sin of Noah towards the Almighty and perfect God according to the ceiling.

-          Art critics also say that there are certain aspects of the ceiling that hint at Christ, (like the tree of knowledge of good and evil being cross-like), but I personally don’t really see it.

 

-He never married.

-He gave much of his artwork away to friends.

-He was fiercely loyal to his friends.

-When a papal employee criticized nudity in the Last Judgment, he painted him as the prince of hell.

-We’ll get to meet him in heaven. He was a strong Christian who believed in justification through faith.

-He was most likely protestant in his beliefs, but never broke from the Catholic Church (this was called being a Nicodemite. He even used his face as a model for the face of Nicodemus in one of his Pietas).

 -He studied and applied the New Testament and Old Testament. He also read Biblical commentaries.

-He earned money like a rich man, yet lived as a poor man.

-He gave most of his money away to support most of his family and the poor.

-When he heard of women who were too poor to get married (because they couldn’t afford a dowry), he would pay for them to be able to get married.

-Saw loving others as a way to love God.