The Sistine Chapel
As ever with Paula the talk was clear and well thought out with good illustrations. As usual she overran gloriously!
Week one we looked at the early frescos after setting the scene and looking at the design of the chapel itself. I love the frescos but never thought about how the project was co-ordinated to give a consistency across the work of multiple artists. Paula’s theory was that Perugino was the master having already been working in Rome and as he painted the most prominent frescos and the altarpiece.
Week 2 we looked up to the next stage of the decoration and Michelangelo’s ceiling. I had recently done a course on the young Michelangelo with Paula so this felt like an extension of that. We looked at how the artist painted this massive undertaking from its inception to its unveiling. I was particular interested in the section on his influences.
Week 3 was Raphael’s tapestries and again we looked at the challenge of the project and discussed what input the weavers may have had. We went through the images in detail and talked about what order they may have been hung in.
Finally we moved to the end wall and Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement” and how it rounds off the iconography of the whole scheme. We looked at study drawings and talked about its reception at the time ands since. As Paula said at the end we had traversed the Italian Renaissance via one room.
Comments