In the summer of 2008 I’ve spent couple of weeks in Italy, visiting Venice, Florence and Rome.There are no many other places in the world with higher concentration of history and art. For an artist this is even more impressive and overwhelming journey. Among all museums, palaces and places I have been to, without the doubt, one stood up high above – the residence of the Pope in Vatican City and more specific the famous Sistine Chapel. You don’t realize the power of the Catholic Church until you visit the “headquarter” in Rome. I had dedicated the entire afternoon on the Sistine Chapel and although surrounded by hundreds of tourists and noise, the time was well worth it.
The reason I wrote this story is that recently someone have forwarded me a link of Sistine Chapel virtual tour. See it for yourself – the quality is amazing and you can zoom in or rotate the building and the ceilings for amazing private viewing. The bigger your screen is, the better!
Sistine Chapel named after Pope Sixtus IV, the uncle of Pope Julius II and it is best known for its ceiling fresco of 1,100 m2 (12,000 sq ft) by Michelangelo. It may never happen if the money for Julius’ magnificent tomb project Michelangelo was working on did not run out. Pope Julius II then eventually commissioned Michelangelo to work on Sistine Chapel ceiling instead.Although studied painting with Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo considered himself more sculptor than painter. Michelangelo is intimidated by the scale of the project. He thought that he was handed this project because his enemies wanted to him to fail. This was the first ever fresco he did, followed later by “The Conversion of St. Paul” and “The Crucifixion of St. Peter” he did later for the Vatican.
Michelangelo took some great freedom while doing the enormous work for over 4 years, from July 1508 to October 1512. For example he did painted a fig tree while depicting the tree of life, which traditionally is represented by an apple tree. In the story of the Fall of Man, the serpentine, presumed to be Satan, is represented by Michelangelo with a woman head and breasts.
Michelangelo had to remove some of his frescoes (two lunettes) to make enough space for the Last Judgment. The artist also had to repaint “The Deluge” few times as the plaster was too wet and developed mold overnight.
Michelangelo was not just a talented sculptor and painter, but like Leonardo he has some great engineering knowledge. To paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling (68 feet or 20 meters tall) he needed a platform high enough and large enough to allow him to reach the ceiling and move around. Initially Julius’ favorite architect Donato Bramante, planned to build a scaffold suspended in the air with ropes. The idea did not work out and would have leaved huge holes in the ceiling, once the work was done.
The problem became bigger than was thought and the matter was taken before the Pope. He asked Michelangelo to build a scaffold of his own. Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. He lay on this scaffolding while he painted using bright colors, easily visible from the ground. The vibrant colors and especially a certain shades of blue the painter used were bought with money from his brother.
The ceiling was unveiled in October 31, 1512.
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Get attention to your art
When it comes to comments about your art, you probably noticed there are two general groups. Most people will tell you they like your work or won’t say anything at all. I’m always
stunned when someone will rather hold his comments, because they do not want to tell the truth or they don’t know what to say. It is OK to express your feelings…..at least I think
it is. How many times people pass by your art and afraid to make any comments? How many times you wonder why?
Look no further. At the end it turned it is not so hard to find a group that does not hold anything back. Children. Go to
The nearby zoo and spend some time listen to the comments kids make. If you want their honest opinion of your art go even further and bring your stuff at the zoo. Settle somewhere and start
painting. Listen to what the little ones have to say about your art. Adults are boring, they’ll ask almost the same questions, but kids are honestly open:
“Wow, I like it. You are really good.”
“Mommy, this is awesome. I want to paint like this lady too”
“Is this a tiger? I want it. Mom, can I have it?”
“You forgot the stripes, tigers have stripes.”
“That is so cool.”
“I really don’t like it, it is scary!”
You can’t possibly more honest opinions than that. I also have realized that I most part kids are right.They see details that are overlooked or something is done wrong. If you really want to hear something about your art, listen to the most honest and often tough critics.Little ones are not holding back and they don’t afraid to express their admiration or tell you what they don’t like. You may be amazed by the feedback you receive….something you can’t always get from most adults.
Until next time keep on going!
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